Lamentations 1–4

Jerusalem Cries over Her Loss

1Jerusalem once was full of people,

but now the city is empty.

Jerusalem once was a great city among the nations,

but now she ⁿ is like a widow.

She was like a queen of all the other cities,

but now she is a slave.

²She cries loudly at night,

and tears are on her cheeks.

There is no one to comfort her;

all who loved her are gone.

All her friends have turned against her

and are now her enemies.

³Judah has gone into captivity

where she suffers and works hard.

She lives among other nations,

but she has found no rest.

Those who chased her caught her

when she was in trouble.

⁴The roads to Jerusalem are sad,

because no one comes for the feasts.

No one passes through her gates.

Her priests groan,

her young women are suffering,

and Jerusalem suffers terribly.

⁵Her foes are now her masters.

Her enemies enjoy the wealth they have taken.

The Lord is punishing her

for her many sins.

Her children have gone away

as captives of the enemy.

⁶The beauty of Jerusalem

has gone away.

Her rulers are like deer

that cannot find food.

They are weak

and run from the hunters.

⁷Jerusalem is suffering and homeless.

She remembers all the good things

from the past.

But her people were defeated by the enemy,

and there was no one to help her.

When her enemies saw her,

they laughed to see her ruined.

⁸Jerusalem sinned terribly,

so she has become unclean.

Those who honored her now hate her,

because they have seen her nakedness.

She groans

and turns away.

⁹She made herself dirty by her sins

and did not think about what would happen to her.

Her defeat was surprising,

and no one could comfort her.

She says, “Lord, see how I suffer,

because the enemy has won.”

¹⁰The enemy reached out and took

all her precious things.

She even saw foreigners

enter her Temple.

The Lord had commanded foreigners

never to enter the meeting place of his people.

¹¹All of Jerusalem’s people groan,

looking for bread.

They are trading their precious things for food

so they can stay alive.

The city says, “Look, Lord, and see.

I am hated.”

¹²Jerusalem says, “You who pass by on the road don’t seem to care.

Come, look at me and see:

Is there any pain like mine?

Is there any pain like that he has caused me?

The Lord has punished me

on the day of his great anger.

¹³“He sent fire from above

that went down into my bones.

He stretched out a net for my feet

and turned me back.

He made me so sad and lonely

that I am weak all day.

¹⁴“He has noticed my sins;

they are tied together by his hands;

they hang around my neck.

He has turned my strength into weakness.

The Lord has handed me over

to those who are stronger than I.

¹⁵“The Lord has rejected

all my mighty men inside my walls.

He brought an army against me

to destroy my young men.

As if in a winepress, the Lord has crushed

the capital city of Judah.

¹⁶“I cry about these things;

my eyes overflow with tears.

There is no one near to comfort me,

no one who can give me strength again.

My children are left sad and lonely,

because the enemy has won.”

¹⁷Jerusalem reaches out her hands,

but there is no one to comfort her.

The Lord commanded the people of Jacob

to be surrounded by their enemies.

Jerusalem is now unclean

like those around her.

¹⁸Jerusalem says, “The Lord is right,

but I refused to obey him.

Listen, all you people,

and look at my pain.

My young women and men

have gone into captivity.

¹⁹“I called out to my friends,

but they turned against me.

My priests and my elders

have died in the city

while looking for food

to stay alive.

²⁰“Look at me, Lord. I am upset

and greatly troubled.

My heart is troubled,

because I have been so stubborn.

Out in the streets, the sword kills;

inside the houses, death destroys.

²¹“People have heard my groaning,

and there is no one to comfort me.

All my enemies have heard of my trouble,

and they are happy you have done this to me.

Now bring that day you have announced

so that my enemies will be like me.

²²“Look at all their evil.

Do to them what you have done to me

because of all my sins.

I groan over and over again,

and I am afraid.”

The Lord Destroyed Jerusalem

2Look how the Lord in his anger

has brought Jerusalem to shame.

He has thrown down the greatness of Israel

from the sky to the earth;

he did not remember the Temple, his footstool,

on the day of his anger.

²The Lord swallowed up without mercy

all the houses of the people of Jacob;

in his anger he pulled down

the strong places of Judah.

He threw her kingdom and its rulers

down to the ground in dishonor.

³In his anger he has removed

all the strength of Israel;

he took away his power from Israel

when the enemy came.

He burned against the people of Jacob like a flaming fire

that burns up everything around it.

⁴Like an enemy, he prepared to shoot his bow,

and his hand was against us.

Like an enemy, he killed

all the good-looking people;

he poured out his anger like fire

on the tents of Jerusalem.

⁵The Lord was like an enemy;

he swallowed up Israel.

He swallowed up all her palaces

and destroyed all her strongholds.

He has caused more moaning and groaning

for Judah.

⁶He cut down his Temple like a garden;

he destroyed the meeting place.

The Lord has made Jerusalem forget

the set feasts and Sabbath days.

He has rejected the king and the priest

in his great anger.

⁷The Lord has rejected his altar

and abandoned his Temple.

He has handed over to the enemy

the walls of Jerusalem’s palaces.

Their uproar in the Lord’s Temple

was like that of a feast day.

⁸The Lord planned to destroy

the wall around Jerusalem.

He measured the wall

and did not stop himself from destroying it.

He made the walls and defenses sad;

together they have fallen.

⁹Jerusalem’s gates have fallen to the ground;

he destroyed and smashed the bars of the gates.

Her king and her princes are among the nations.

The teaching of the Lord has stopped,

and the prophets do not have

visions from the Lord.

¹⁰The elders of Jerusalem

sit on the ground in silence.

They throw dust on their heads

and put on rough cloth to show their sadness.

The young women of Jerusalem

bow their heads to the ground in sorrow.

¹¹My eyes have no more tears,

and I am sick to my stomach.

I feel empty inside,

because my people have been destroyed.

Children and babies are fainting

in the streets of the city.

¹²They ask their mothers,

“Where is the grain and wine?”

They faint like wounded soldiers

in the streets of the city

and die in their mothers’ arms.

¹³What can I say about you, Jerusalem?

What can I compare you to?

What can I say you are like?

How can I comfort you, Jerusalem?

Your ruin is as deep as the sea.

No one can heal you.

¹⁴Your prophets saw visions,

but they were false and worth nothing.

They did not point out your sins

to keep you from being captured.

They preached what was false

and led you wrongly.

¹⁵All who pass by on the road

clap their hands at you;

they make fun of Jerusalem

and shake their heads.

They ask, “Is this the city that people called

the most beautiful city,

the happiest place on earth?”

¹⁶All your enemies open their mouths

to speak against you.

They make fun and grind their teeth in anger.

They say, “We have swallowed you up.

This is the day we were waiting for!

We have finally seen it happen.”

¹⁷The Lord has done what he planned;

he has kept his word

that he commanded long ago.

He has destroyed without mercy,

and he has let your enemies laugh at you.

He has strengthened your enemies.

¹⁸The people cry out to the Lord.

Wall of Jerusalem,

let your tears flow

like a river day and night.

Do not stop

or let your eyes rest.

¹⁹Get up, cry out in the night,

even as the night begins.

Pour out your heart like water

in prayer to the Lord.

Lift up your hands in prayer to him

for the life of your children

who are fainting with hunger

on every street corner.

²⁰Jerusalem says: “Look, Lord, and see

to whom you have done this.

Women eat their own babies,

the children they have cared for.

Priests and prophets are killed

in the Temple of the Lord.

²¹“People young and old

lie outside on the ground.

My young women and young men

have been killed by the sword.

You killed them on the day of your anger;

you killed them without mercy.

²²“You invited terrors to come against me on every side,

as if you were inviting them to a feast.

No one escaped or remained alive

on the day of the Lord’s anger.

My enemy has killed

those I cared for and brought up.”

The Meaning of Suffering

3I am a man who has seen the suffering

that comes from the rod of the Lord’s anger.

²He led me

into darkness, not light.

³He turned his hand against me

again and again, all day long.

⁴He wore out my flesh and skin

and broke my bones.

⁵He surrounded me with sadness

and attacked me with grief.

⁶He made me sit in the dark,

like those who have been dead a long time.

⁷He shut me in so I could not get out;

he put heavy chains on me.

⁸I cry out and beg for help,

but he ignores my prayer.

⁹He blocked my way with a stone wall

and led me in the wrong direction.

¹⁰He is like a bear ready to attack me,

like a lion in hiding.

¹¹He led me the wrong way and let me stray

and left me without help.

¹²He prepared to shoot his bow

and made me the target for his arrows.

¹³He shot me in the kidneys

with the arrows from his bag.

¹⁴I was a joke to all my people,

who make fun of me with songs all day long.

¹⁵The Lord filled me with misery;

he made me drunk with suffering.

¹⁶He broke my teeth with gravel

and trampled me into the dirt.

¹⁷I have no more peace.

I have forgotten what happiness is.

¹⁸I said, “My strength is gone,

and I have no hope in the Lord.”

¹⁹Lord, remember my suffering and my misery,

my sorrow and trouble.

²⁰Please remember me

and think about me.

²¹But I have hope

when I think of this:

²²The Lord’s love never ends;

his mercies never stop.

²³They are new every morning;

Lord, your loyalty is great.

²⁴I say to myself, “The Lord is mine,

so I hope in him.”

²⁵The Lord is good to those who hope in him,

to those who seek him.

²⁶It is good to wait quietly

for the Lord to save.

²⁷It is good for someone to work hard

while he is young.

²⁸He should sit alone and be quiet;

the Lord has given him hard work to do.

²⁹He should bow down to the ground;

maybe there is still hope.

³⁰He should let anyone slap his cheek;

he should be filled with shame.

³¹The Lord will not reject

his people forever.

³²…