Lamentations 2:13–19

¹³How shall I admonish you?

To what ^ashall I compare you,

O daughter of Jerusalem?

To what shall I liken you as I comfort you,

O ^bvirgin daughter of Zion?

For your ¹ruin is as vast as the sea;

Who can ^cheal you?

¹⁴Your ^aprophets have seen for you

False and foolish visions;

And they have not ^bexposed your iniquity

So as to restore you from captivity,

But they have ^cseen for you false and misleading ¹oracles.

¹⁵All who pass along the way

^aClap their hands in derision at you;

They ^bhiss and shake their heads

At the daughter of Jerusalem,

“Is this the city of which they said,

‘^cThe perfection of beauty,

^dA joy to all the earth’?”

¹⁶All ^ayour enemies

Have opened their mouths wide against you;

They hiss and ^bgnash their teeth.

They say, “We have ^cswallowed her up!

Surely this is the ^dday for which we waited;

We have reached it, we have seen it.”

¹⁷The Lord has ^adone what He purposed;

He has accomplished His word

Which He commanded from days of old.

He has thrown down ^bwithout sparing,

And He has caused the enemy to ^crejoice over you;

He has ^dexalted the ¹might of your adversaries.

¹⁸Their ^aheart cried out to the Lord,

“O ^bwall of the daughter of Zion,

Let your ^ctears run down like a river day and night;

Give yourself no relief,

Let ¹your eyes have no rest.

¹⁹“Arise, cry aloud in the ^anight

At the beginning of the night watches;

^bPour out your heart like water

Before the presence of the Lord;

Lift up your hands to Him

For the ^clife of your little ones

Who are ^dfaint because of hunger

At the head of every street.”