Jeremiah’s Lament for Josiah

Then Jeremiah chanted a lament for Josiah
—2 Chronicles 35:25

Weep, oh weep! Josiah’s dead,
the child-king has been killed,
and Judah could go to the grave,
the promise unfulfilled,
And precious Zion stands condemned,
Who will save Jerusalem?

Josiah, the resilient king
who overcame the odds,
and led us back to Je-ho-vah,
and trampled pagan gods,
Oh people hear my lamentation:
Who will heal this broken nation?

Josiah, who reformed our land
and strictly kept the Law,
Josiah, the courageous king
who led us out to war,
Once a promised land for slaves
is now a mass of tombless graves.

Weep, oh weep! Josiah’s dead,
the child-king has been slain,
the Egyptian king has murdered him
upon Megiddo’s plains,
And precious Zion stands condemned,
Who will save Jerusalem?

—Damian Balassone