Lamentations 1:1–11

How Lonely Sits the City

1^aHow lonely sits the city

that was full of people!

How like ^ba widow has she become,

she who was great among the nations!

She who was ^ca princess among the provinces

has become ^da slave.

^2eShe weeps bitterly in the night,

with tears on her cheeks;

^famong all her lovers

she has ^gnone to comfort her;

^hall her friends have dealt treacherously with her;

they have become her enemies.

³ⁱJudah has gone into exile because of affliction¹

and hard servitude;

^jshe dwells now among the nations,

^kbut finds no resting place;

her pursuers have all overtaken her

in the midst of her distress.²

⁴The roads to Zion mourn,

for none come to ^lthe festival;

^mall her gates are desolate;

her priests ⁿgroan;

her virgins have been afflicted,³

and she herself suffers bitterly.

^5oHer foes have become the head;

her ^penemies prosper,

because ^qthe Lord has afflicted her

^rfor the multitude of her transgressions;

^sher children have gone away,

captives before the foe.

⁶From the daughter of Zion

all her majesty has departed.

Her princes have become like deer

^tthat find no pasture;

they fled without strength

before the pursuer.

⁷Jerusalem remembers

in the days of her affliction and wandering

^uall the precious things

that were hers from ^vdays of old.

When her people fell into the hand of the foe,

and there was none to help her,

her foes gloated over her;

they ^wmocked at her downfall.

^8xJerusalem sinned grievously;

therefore she became filthy;

all who honored her despise her,

^yfor they have seen her nakedness;

she herself ^zgroans

and turns her face away.

⁹Her uncleanness was ^ain her skirts;

^bshe took no thought of her future;⁴

therefore her fall is terrible;

^cshe has no comforter.

“O Lord, behold my affliction,

for the enemy has ^dtriumphed!”

¹⁰The enemy has stretched out his hands

over all her ^eprecious things;

for she has seen ^fthe nations

enter her sanctuary,

those whom you ^gforbade

to enter your congregation.

¹¹All her people ^zgroan

as ^hthey search for bread;

they trade their ^etreasures for ⁱfood

to revive their strength.

“Look, O Lord, and see,

for I am despised.”