Lamentations 1:1–22

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.”

¹²“Is it nothing to you, all ^jyou who pass by?

^kLook and see

if there is any sorrow like my sorrow,

which was brought upon me,

which ^lthe Lord inflicted

on ^mthe day of his fierce anger.

¹³“From on high he ⁿsent fire;

into my bones⁵ he made it descend;

^ohe spread a net for my feet;

he turned me back;

^phe has left me stunned,

faint all the day long.

¹⁴“My transgressions were bound⁶ into ^qa yoke;

by his hand they were fastened together;

they were set upon my neck;

he caused my strength to fail;

the Lord gave me into the hands

of those whom I cannot withstand.

¹⁵“The Lord rejected

all my mighty men in my midst;

he summoned an assembly against me

to crush my young men;

^rthe Lord has trodden as in a winepress

the virgin daughter of Judah.

¹⁶“For these things ^sI weep;

my eyes flow with tears;

for ^ta comforter is far from me,

one to ^urevive my spirit;

my children are desolate,

for the enemy has prevailed.”

^17vZion stretches out her hands,

but ^tthere is none to comfort her;

the Lord has commanded against Jacob

that his neighbors should be his foes;

Jerusalem has become

a filthy thing among them.

^18w“The Lord is in the right,

^xfor I have rebelled against his word;

but hear, all you peoples,

and see my suffering;

^ymy young women and my young men

have gone into captivity.

¹⁹“I called to ^zmy lovers,

but they deceived me;

my priests and elders

perished in the city,

while ^athey sought food

to revive their strength.

²⁰“Look, O Lord, for I am in distress;

^bmy stomach churns;

my heart is wrung within me,

because I have been very rebellious.

^cIn the street the sword bereaves;

in the house it is like death.

²¹“They heard^{7 d}my groaning,

yet ^ethere is no one to comfort me.

All my enemies have heard of my trouble;

^fthey are glad that you have done it.

You have brought⁸ the day you announced;

^fnow let them be as I am.

^22g“Let all their evildoing come before you,

and deal with them

as ^hyou have dealt with me

because of all my transgressions;

for ^dmy groans are many,

and ⁱmy heart is faint.”