Lamentations 2:13–19

¹³What can I say for you? What can I compare to you,

O daughter of Jerusalem?

To what can I liken you so that I can comfort you,

O virgin daughter of Zion?

For your destruction is as vast as the sea;

who can heal you?

¹⁴Your prophets had a vision for you,

false and worthless;

they have not exposed your sin,

to restore your fortune;

they have seen oracles for you,

false and misleading.

¹⁵They clap hands over you,

all who pass along the way;

they hiss and they shake their head,

at the daughter of Jerusalem.

Is this the city of which it is said,

“A perfection of beauty, a joy for all the earth?”

¹⁶They have opened their mouths against you,

all your enemies.

They hiss and gnash a tooth,

and they say, “We have destroyed her!

Surely this is the day we have hoped for;

we have found it, we have seen it!”

¹⁷Yahweh has done what he has planned;

he has fulfilled his promise

that he ordained from the days of old;

he has demolished and not shown mercy;

he has made an enemy rejoice over you,

he has exalted the mightⁿ of your foes.

¹⁸Their heart cried to the Lord,

“O wall of the daughter of Zion,

let tears stream down like a river;

day and night,

do not give yourself relief,

do not give your eyes rest.

¹⁹“Arise, cry out in the night,

at the beginning of the night watches;

pour out your heart like water,

before the face of the Lord.

Lift to him your hands,

for the life of your children,

who faint in starvation,

at the head of all streets.”