Lamentations 1:1–11

The Prophet Speaks Out: No One Offers Comfort

¹“Look how deserted Jerusalem is! 

Once the city was crowded with people. 

Once it was important among the nations. 

Now it is a widow. 

Once it was a princess among the provinces. 

Now it does forced labor. 

²Jerusalem cries bitterly at night with tears running down its cheeks. 

Out of all those who love the city, no one offers it comfort. 

All of Jerusalem’s friends have betrayed it and become its enemies. 

³“Judah has been exiled after ⸤much⸥ suffering and harsh treatment. 

Its ⸤people⸥ live among the nations; they find no rest. 

Those who chased them caught up with them 

in places where there was no way out. 

⁴“The roads to Zion are deserted.^b

No one comes to the annual festivals. 

No one passes through any of its gates.^c

Its priests are groaning. 

Its young women are made to suffer. 

Zion is bitter. 

⁵Its opponents are now in control. 

Its enemies have no worries. 

The Lord made Zion suffer for its many rebellious acts. 

Its children go ahead of their opponents into captivity. 

⁶All splendor has abandoned the people of Zion. 

Its influential people were like deer that couldn’t find any pasture. 

They ran without any strength ahead of the hunters. 

⁷“Now, during its suffering and oppression, 

Jerusalem remembers all the treasures it had from ancient times, 

when its people fell into the power of their enemies 

with no one to help them. 

Their opponents looked on, and they laughed at Jerusalem’s downfall. 

⁸Jerusalem has sinned so much that it has become a filthy thing. 

Everyone who used to honor it now despises it. 

They’ve seen it naked. 

Jerusalem groans and turns away. 

⁹Jerusalem’s own filth ⸤covers⸥ its clothes. 

It gave no thought to its future. 

Its downfall was shocking. 

No one offers it comfort. 

‘O Lord, look at my suffering, 

because my enemies have triumphed.’ 

¹⁰The enemies laid their hands on all of the city’s treasures. 

Jerusalem has seen the nations enter the holy place. 

‘O Lord, they are the same people 

you have forbidden to enter your congregation.’ 

¹¹All the people are groaning as they beg for bread. 

They trade their treasures for food to keep themselves alive. 

‘O Lord, look and see how despised I am!’ ”