Lamentations 2:13–19

The Prophet Speaks Out: the Lord Destroyed You

¹³“What example can I give you? 

What parallel can I show you, people of Jerusalem? 

What comparison can I make that will comfort you, beloved people of Zion? 

Your wounds are as deep as the sea. 

Who can heal you? 

¹⁴Your prophets saw misleading visions about you. 

They painted a good picture of you. 

They didn’t expose your guilt in order to make things better again. 

They gave you false prophecies that misled you. 

¹⁵Everyone who walks along the road shakes a fist at you. 

They hiss and shake their heads at Jerusalem’s people: 

‘Is this the city they used to call absolutely beautiful, 

the joy of the whole world?’ 

¹⁶All your enemies gawk at you. 

They hiss and grit their teeth. 

They say, ‘We’ve swallowed it up. 

Yes, this is the day we’ve been waiting for. 

At last we have seen it!’ 

¹⁷The Lord has accomplished what he had planned to do. 

He carried out the threat he announced long ago. 

He tore you down without any pity, ⸤Jerusalem⸥. 

He made your enemies gloat over you. 

He raised the weapons of your opponents. 

¹⁸The hearts of Jerusalem’s people 

cried out to the Lord, the wall of Zion’s people. 

Let your tears run down like a river day and night. 

Don’t let them stop. 

Don’t let your eyes rest. 

¹⁹Get up! Cry out at night, every hour on the hour. 

Pour your heart out like water in the presence of the Lord. 

Lift up your hands to him ⸤in prayer⸥ 

for the life of your little children 

who faint from hunger at every street corner.”