Lamentations 1:1–11

The Sorrows of Zion

¹How ^alonely sits the city

That was ^bfull of people!

She has become like a ^cwidow

Who was once ^dgreat among the nations!

She who was a princess among the ¹provinces

Has become a ^eforced laborer!

²She ^aweeps bitterly in the night

And her tears are on her cheeks;

She has none to comfort her

Among all her ^blovers.

All her friends have ^cdealt treacherously with her;

They have become her enemies.

^3aJudah has gone into exile ¹under affliction

And under ²harsh servitude;

She dwells ^bamong the nations,

But she has found no rest;

All ^cher pursuers have overtaken her

In the midst of ³distress.

⁴The roads ¹of Zion are in mourning

Because ^ano one comes to the appointed feasts.

All her gates are ^bdesolate;

Her priests are groaning,

Her ^cvirgins are afflicted,

And she herself ²is ^dbitter.

⁵Her adversaries have become ¹her masters,

Her enemies ²prosper;

For the Lord has ^acaused her grief

Because of the multitude of her transgressions;

Her little ones have gone away

As captives before the adversary.

⁶All her ^amajesty

Has departed from the daughter of Zion;

Her princes have become like deer

That have found no pasture;

And they have ^1bfled without strength

Before the pursuer.

⁷In the days of her affliction and homelessness

^aJerusalem remembers all her precious things

That were from the days of old,

When her people fell into the hand of the adversary

And ^bno one helped her.

The adversaries saw her,

They ^cmocked at her ¹ruin.

⁸Jerusalem sinned ^agreatly,

Therefore ^bshe has become an unclean thing.

All who honored her despise her

Because they have seen her nakedness;

Even ^cshe herself groans and turns away.

⁹Her ^auncleanness was in her skirts;

She ¹did not consider her ^bfuture.

Therefore she has ^2cfallen astonishingly;

^dShe has no comforter.

“^eSee, O Lord, my affliction,

For the enemy has ^fmagnified himself!”

¹⁰The adversary has stretched out his hand

Over all her precious things,

For she has seen the ^anations enter her sanctuary,

The ones whom You commanded

That they should ^bnot enter into Your congregation.

¹¹All her people groan ^aseeking bread;

They have given their precious things for food

To ^brestore their ¹lives themselves.

“See, O Lord, and look,

For I am ^cdespised.”