Lamentations 2:13–19

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.