Lamentations 2

2^aHow hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger,

^aaAnd cast down from heaven unto the earth ^bthe beauty of Israel,

And remembered not ^chis footstool in the day of his anger!

²The Lord ^dhath swallowed up all ^dthe habitations of Jacob, and ^ehath not pitied:

^fHe hath thrown down in his wrath the strong holds of the daughter of Judah;

He hath ^†brought them down ^gto the ground: he ^ghhath polluted the kingdom and ^hthe princes thereof.

³He hath cut off ⁱin his fierce anger all ^kthe horn of Israel:

^lHe hath drawn back his right hand from before the enemy,

And ^mhe burned against Jacob like a flaming fire, which devoureth round about.

⁴ⁿHe hath bent his bow ⁿⁿlike an enemy: he stood with his right hand as an adversary,

And slew ^†all ^othat were pleasant to the eye

In the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion: he poured out his fury like fire.

⁵ⁿⁿThe Lord was as an enemy: ^phe hath swallowed up Israel,

^pqHe hath swallowed up all her palaces: he hath destroyed his strong holds,

And hath increased in the daughter of Judah ^rmourning and lamentation.

⁶And ^she hath violently taken away his ^||ttabernacle, as if it were of a garden: he hath destroyed ^uhis places of the assembly:

The Lord hath caused ^uthe solemn feasts and ^vsabbaths to be forgotten in Zion,

And ^whath despised in the indignation of his anger the king and the priest.

⁷The Lord hath ^xcast off his altar, he hath ^yabhorred his sanctuary,

He hath ^†given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces;

^zThey have made a noise in the house of the Lord, as in the day of a solemn feast.

^8aThe Lord hath purposed to destroy ^aathe wall of the daughter of Zion:

^bHe hath stretched out a line, he hath not withdrawn his hand from ^†destroying:

Therefore he made ^cthe rampart and the wall to lament; they ^dlanguished together.

⁹Her gates ^eare sunk into the ground; he hath destroyed and ⁱbroken her bars:

^gHer king and her princes are among the Gentiles: ^hthe law is no more;

ⁱHer prophets also find no vision from the Lord.

¹⁰The elders of the daughter of Zion ^klsit upon the ground, and ^lkeep silence:

They have ^mcast up dust upon their heads; they have ⁿgirded themselves with sackcloth:

The virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.

^11osMine eyes do fail with tears, ^pmy bowels are troubled,

^qMy liver ^ris poured upon the earth, ^sfor the destruction of the daughter of my people;

Because ^tthe children and ^tthe sucklings ^||swoon in the streets of the city.

¹²They say to their mothers, ^uWhere is corn and wine?

^vWhen they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the city,

When their soul was poured out into their mothers’ bosom.

¹³What thing shall I take to witness for thee? ^wwhat thing shall I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem?

^wWhat shall I equal to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion?

For ^xthy breach is great like the sea: who can heal thee?

¹⁴Thy ^xxprophets have seen ^yvain and ^zfoolish things for thee:

And ^athey have not discovered thine iniquity, ^bto turn away thy captivity;

But have seen for thee false ^cburdens and causes of banishment.

¹⁵All that pass ^†by ^eclap their hands at thee;

They ^dehiss and ^fwag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, ^gsaying,

Is this the city that men call ^hThe perfection of beauty, ⁱThe joy of the whole earth?

^16jAll thine enemies ^khave opened their mouth against thee:

They ^dehiss and ^lgnash the teeth: they say, ^mWe have swallowed her up:

Certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, ⁿwe have seen it.

^17oThe Lord hath done that which he had devised; he hath fulfilled his word that he had commanded ^pin the days of old:

^qHe hath thrown down, ^qand hath not pitied: and he hath ^rcaused thine enemy to rejoice over thee,

He hath set up ^sthe horn of thine adversaries.

¹⁸Their heart cried unto the Lord,

^tO wall of the daughter of Zion, ^ulet tears run down like a river ^vday and night:

Give thyself no ^wrest; let not ^xthe apple of thine eye cease.

¹⁹Arise, ^ycry out in the night: in the beginning of ^zthe watches

^aPour out thine heart ^blike water before the face of the Lord:

Lift up thy hands toward him for the life of ^cthy young children,

^cThat faint for hunger ^din the top of every street.

²⁰Behold, O Lord, and consider to whom ^ethou hast done this.

^fShall the women eat their fruit, and children ^||gof a span long?

Shall ⁱthe priest and ^hthe prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?

²¹ⁱThe young and the old lie on the ground in the streets:

ⁱMy virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword;

^kThou hast slain them in the day of thine anger; thou hast killed, ^kand not pitied.

²²Thou hast called as in ^la solemn day ^mmy terrors round about,

So that in the day of the Lord’s anger none ⁿescaped nor remained:

^oThose that I have ^pswaddled and brought up hath mine enemy consumed.