Oratio Jeremiæ O.P.

The prayer of the prophet Jeremiah according to the Dominican Tradition (Oratio Jeremiae O.P.).
Parts of the lamentations (Threni) attributed to the prophet Jeremiah formed the text of the first three (of a total of nine) lessons in the liturgy in the matins (Tenebrae, Ténèbres) of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. In the Bible, the lessons consist of 5 chapters of 22 verses each, of which the first four chapters in the Hebrew text are alphabetical acrosticha. The Hebrew letters Aleph, Beth, Gimel, etc., which are also used for numbering, have been adopted unchanged in the Latin translation of the Threni.
Chapter 5 of the Lamentations is entitled Oratio Jeremiae and has no acrostic. The Oratio Jeremiae is prayed after the last Nocturn and after the three Lamentationes Jeremiae Prophetae, i.e. as a concluding prayer. The Oratio concludes with the verse "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, convertere ad Dominum Deum tuum" (not Jeremiah, but freely according to Hosea 14:2).
In the Dominican tradition the Oratio Jeremiae is also a separate part at the end of matins (in the roman rite this is part of the Lectiones Jeremiae). The Oratio Jeremiae in the Dominican tradition is also considerably longer than the roman one.
Translation:
Remember, O Lord, what has befallen us; behold, and see our disgrace!
Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to aliens.
We have become orphans, fatherless; our mothers are like widows.
We must pay for the water we drink, the wood we get must be bought.
With a yoke on our necks we are hard driven; we are weary, we are given no rest.
We have given the hand to Egypt, and to Assyria, to get bread enough.
Our fathers sinned, and are no more; and we bear their iniquities.
Slaves rule over us; there is none to deliver us from their hand.
We get our bread at the peril of our lives, because of the sword in the wilderness.
Our skin is hot as an oven with the burning heat of famine.
Women are ravished in Zion, virgins in the towns of Judah.
Princes are hung up by their hands; no respect is shown to the elders.
Young men are compelled to grind at the mill; and boys stagger under loads of wood.
The old men have quit the city gate, the young men their music.
The joy of our hearts has ceased; our dancing has been turned to mourning.
The crown has fallen from our head; woe to us, for we have sinned!
For this our heart has become sick, for these things our eyes have grown dim,
for Mount Zion which lies desolate; jackals prowl over it.
But thou, O Lord, dost reign for ever; thy throne endures to all generations.
Why dost thou forget us for ever, why dost thou so long forsake us?
Restore us to thyself, O Lord, that we may be restored! Renew our days as of old!
Or hast thou utterly rejected us? Art thou exceedingly angry with us?
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, turn again to the Lord your God.
Score: drive.google.c...
Friar: Stefan Ansinger O.P.
Location: We thank the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter of Fribourg (FSSP) for their hospitality. www.fssp.ch/fr/...
For more information or questions about our project: [e-mail]
Website: opchant.com/