These readings would normally be read on Thursday evening, following all the liturgies of Maundy Thursday. The entire office, in both Matins and Lauds, is permeated with a sense of immense sorrow of heart, the sorrow "even unto death" which Christ felt in Gethsemane the night that He was betrayed - which is indeed tonight. The reforms of Pope Pius XII moved this service of Tenebrae to Friday morning, which is strange for a variety of reasons, but here especially because Christ's agony in the garden did not occur on the morning of the day of His death, but the night before. It was soon after the Last Supper itself. Hence it was the traditional practice to sing these offices Thursday evening, in the dark.
Anyhow, the readings from the book of Lamentations carry an enormous amount of material to teach of the meaning of the passion of Christ and all the mysteries which we revisit this week, which are so central to the entire faith. Jerusalem represents the people of God, who have been destroyed by sin. The prophet weeps for the sins of Jerusalem, entreating her to turn again to her God. When will this great conversion be? When will we see the new Jerusalem? When will we witness the promise of her renewal? When but at the Resurrection of Our Lord, the very seed of our own resurrection?
Reading 1
Lesson from the book of Lamentations
Lam 2:8-11
8 Heth. The Lord hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Sion: he hath stretched out his line, and hath not withdrawn his hand from destroying: and the bulwark hath mourned, and the wall hath been destroyed together.
9 Teth. Her gates are sunk into the ground: he hath destroyed, and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no more, and her prophets have found no vision from the Lord.
10 Jod. The ancients of the daughter of Sion sit upon the ground, they have held their peace: they have sprinkled their heads with dust, they are girded with haircloth, the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.
11 Caph. My eyes have failed with weeping, my bowels are troubled: my liver is poured out upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people, when the children, and the sucklings, fainted away in the streets of the city.
Lesson from the book of Lamentations
Lam 2:8-11
8 Heth. The Lord hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Sion: he hath stretched out his line, and hath not withdrawn his hand from destroying: and the bulwark hath mourned, and the wall hath been destroyed together.
9 Teth. Her gates are sunk into the ground: he hath destroyed, and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no more, and her prophets have found no vision from the Lord.
10 Jod. The ancients of the daughter of Sion sit upon the ground, they have held their peace: they have sprinkled their heads with dust, they are girded with haircloth, the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.
11 Caph. My eyes have failed with weeping, my bowels are troubled: my liver is poured out upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people, when the children, and the sucklings, fainted away in the streets of the city.
Jerusalem! Jerusalem! Return unto the Lord thy God.
R. All my friends have forsaken me, and mine enemies have prevailed against me; he whom I loved hath betrayed me.
* Mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me; he breaketh me with breach upon breach: and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
V. I am numbered with the transgressors; and my life is not spared.
R. Mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me; he breaketh me with breach upon breach; and (in my thirst) they gave me vinegar to drink.
R. All my friends have forsaken me, and mine enemies have prevailed against me; he whom I loved hath betrayed me.
* Mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me; he breaketh me with breach upon breach: and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
V. I am numbered with the transgressors; and my life is not spared.
R. Mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me; he breaketh me with breach upon breach; and (in my thirst) they gave me vinegar to drink.
Reading 2
2:12-15
12 Lamed. They said to their mothers: Where is corn and wine? when they fainted away as the wounded in the streets of the city: when they breathed out their souls in the bosoms of their mothers.
13 Mem. To what shall I compare thee? or to what shall I liken thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? to what shall I equal thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Sion? for great as the sea is thy destruction: who shall heal thee?
14 Nun. thy prophets have seen false and foolish things for thee: and they have not laid open thy iniquity, to excite thee to penance: but they have seen for thee false revelations and banishments.
5 Samech. All they that passed by the way have clapped their hands at thee: they have hissed, and wagged their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying: Is this the city of perfect beauty, the joy of all the earth?
2:12-15
12 Lamed. They said to their mothers: Where is corn and wine? when they fainted away as the wounded in the streets of the city: when they breathed out their souls in the bosoms of their mothers.
13 Mem. To what shall I compare thee? or to what shall I liken thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? to what shall I equal thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Sion? for great as the sea is thy destruction: who shall heal thee?
14 Nun. thy prophets have seen false and foolish things for thee: and they have not laid open thy iniquity, to excite thee to penance: but they have seen for thee false revelations and banishments.
5 Samech. All they that passed by the way have clapped their hands at thee: they have hissed, and wagged their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying: Is this the city of perfect beauty, the joy of all the earth?
Jerusalem! Jerusalem! Return unto the Lord thy God.
R. The veil of the Temple was rent in twain, from the top to the bottom,
* And all the earth did quake: the thief on the cross cried, saying: Lord, remember me when Thou comest into thy kingdom!
V. The rocks rent, and the graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints, which slept, arose.
R. And all the earth did quake: the thief on the cross cried, saying: Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
R. The veil of the Temple was rent in twain, from the top to the bottom,
* And all the earth did quake: the thief on the cross cried, saying: Lord, remember me when Thou comest into thy kingdom!
V. The rocks rent, and the graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints, which slept, arose.
R. And all the earth did quake: the thief on the cross cried, saying: Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
Reading 3
Lam 3:1-9
1 Aleph. I am the man that see my poverty by the rod of his indignation.
2 Aleph. He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, and not into light.
3 Aleph. Only against me he hath turned, and turned again his hand all the day.
4 Beth. My skin and my flesh he hath made old, he hath broken my bones.
5 Beth. He hath built round about me, and he hath compassed me with gall and labour.
6 Beth. He hath set me in dark places as those that are dead for ever.
7 Ghimel. He hath built against me round about, that I may not get out: he hath made my fetters heavy.
8 Ghimel. Yea, and when I cry, and entreat, he hath shut out my prayer.
9 Ghimel. He hath shut up my ways with square stones, he hath turned my paths upside down
Jerusalem! Jerusalem! Return unto the Lord thy God.
Lam 3:1-9
1 Aleph. I am the man that see my poverty by the rod of his indignation.
2 Aleph. He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, and not into light.
3 Aleph. Only against me he hath turned, and turned again his hand all the day.
4 Beth. My skin and my flesh he hath made old, he hath broken my bones.
5 Beth. He hath built round about me, and he hath compassed me with gall and labour.
6 Beth. He hath set me in dark places as those that are dead for ever.
7 Ghimel. He hath built against me round about, that I may not get out: he hath made my fetters heavy.
8 Ghimel. Yea, and when I cry, and entreat, he hath shut out my prayer.
9 Ghimel. He hath shut up my ways with square stones, he hath turned my paths upside down
Jerusalem! Jerusalem! Return unto the Lord thy God.
R. I had planted thee a noble vineyard;
* How then art thou turned into a degenerate plant, which willest that Barabbas should be released unto thee, and that I should be crucified.
V. I fenced thee, and gathered out the stones from thee, and built a tower in the midst of the land.
R. How then art thou turned into a degenerate plant, which willest that Barabbas should be released unto thee, and that I should be crucified.
R. I had planted thee a noble vineyard; * How then art thou turned into a generate plant, which willest the Barabbas should be released unto thee, and that I should be crucified.
* How then art thou turned into a degenerate plant, which willest that Barabbas should be released unto thee, and that I should be crucified.
V. I fenced thee, and gathered out the stones from thee, and built a tower in the midst of the land.
R. How then art thou turned into a degenerate plant, which willest that Barabbas should be released unto thee, and that I should be crucified.
R. I had planted thee a noble vineyard; * How then art thou turned into a generate plant, which willest the Barabbas should be released unto thee, and that I should be crucified.
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