Lamentations 1–2
1 a How deserteda lies the city,
once so full of people!b
How like a widowc is she,
who once was greatd among the nations!
She who was queen among the provinces
has now become a slave.e
2 Bitterly she weepsf at night,
tears are on her cheeks.
Among all her loversg
there is no one to comfort her.
All her friends have betrayedh her;
they have become her enemies.i
3 After affliction and harsh labor,
Judah has gone into exile.j
She dwells among the nations;
she finds no resting place.k
All who pursue her have overtaken herl
in the midst of her distress.
4 The roads to Zion mourn,m
for no one comes to her appointed festivals.
All her gateways are desolate,n
her priests groan,
her young women grieve,
and she is in bitter anguish.o
5 Her foes have become her masters;
her enemies are at ease.
The Lord has brought her griefp
because of her many sins.q
Her children have gone into exile,r
captive before the foe.s
6 All the splendor has departed
from Daughter Zion.t
Her princes are like deer
that find no pasture;
in weakness they have fledu
before the pursuer.
7 In the days of her affliction and wandering
Jerusalem remembers all the treasures
that were hers in days of old.
When her people fell into enemy hands,
there was no one to help her.v
Her enemies looked at her
and laughedw at her destruction.
8 Jerusalem has sinnedx greatly
and so has become unclean.y
All who honored her despise her,
for they have all seen her naked;z
she herself groansa
and turns away.
9 Her filthiness clung to her skirts;
she did not consider her future.b
Her fallc was astounding;
there was none to comfortd her.
“Look, Lord, on my affliction,e
for the enemy has triumphed.”
on all her treasures;f
she saw pagan nations
enter her sanctuaryg—
those you had forbiddenh
to enter your assembly.
11 All her people groani
as they search for bread;j
they barter their treasures for food
to keep themselves alive.
“Look, Lord, and consider,
for I am despised.”
12 “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?k
Look around and see.
Is any suffering like my sufferingl
that was inflicted on me,
that the Lord brought on me
in the day of his fierce anger?m
13 “From on high he sent fire,
sent it down into my bones.n
He spread a neto for my feet
and turned me back.
He made me desolate,p
faintq all the day long.
14 “My sins have been bound into a yokeb;r
by his hands they were woven together.
They have been hung on my neck,
and the Lord has sapped my strength.
He has given me into the handss
of those I cannot withstand.
all the warriors in my midst;t
he has summoned an armyu against me
In his winepressw the Lord has trampledx
Virgin Daughtery Judah.
and my eyes overflow with tears.z
No one is near to comforta me,
no one to restore my spirit.
My children are destitute
because the enemy has prevailed.”b
17 Zion stretches out her hands,c
but there is no one to comfort her.
The Lord has decreed for Jacob
that his neighbors become his foes;d
Jerusalem has become
an uncleane thingf among them.
18 “The Lord is righteous,g
yet I rebelledh against his command.
Listen, all you peoples;
look on my suffering.i
My young men and young women
have gone into exile.j
19 “I called to my alliesk
but they betrayed me.
My priests and my elders
perishedl in the city
while they searched for food
to keep themselves alive.
20 “See, Lord, how distressedm I am!
I am in tormentn within,
and in my heart I am disturbed,o
for I have been most rebellious.p
Outside, the sword bereaves;
inside, there is only death.q
21 “People have heard my groaning,r
but there is no one to comfort me.s
All my enemies have heard of my distress;
they rejoicet at what you have done.
May you bring the dayu you have announced
so they may become like me.
22 “Let all their wickedness come before you;
deal with them
as you have dealt with me
because of all my sins.v
My groansw are many
and my heart is faint.”
2 a How the Lord has covered Daughter Zion
with the cloud of his angerb!x
He has hurled down the splendor of Israel
from heaven to earth;
he has not remembered his footstooly
in the day of his anger.z
2 Without pitya the Lord has swallowedb up
all the dwellings of Jacob;
in his wrath he has torn down
the strongholdsc of Daughter Judah.
He has brought her kingdom and its princes
down to the groundd in dishonor.
3 In fierce anger he has cut off
He has withdrawn his right handf
at the approach of the enemy.
He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire
that consumes everything around it.g
4 Like an enemy he has strung his bow;h
his right hand is ready.
Like a foe he has slain
all who were pleasing to the eye;i
he has poured out his wrathj like firek
on the tentl of Daughter Zion.
5 The Lord is like an enemy;m
he has swallowed up Israel.
He has swallowed up all her palaces
and destroyed her strongholds.n
He has multiplied mourning and lamentationo
for Daughter Judah.p
6 He has laid waste his dwelling like a garden;
he has destroyedq his place of meeting.r
The Lord has made Zion forget
her appointed festivals and her Sabbaths;s
in his fierce anger he has spurned
both king and priest.t
7 The Lord has rejected his altar
and abandoned his sanctuary.u
He has given the walls of her palacesv
into the hands of the enemy;
they have raised a shout in the house of the Lord
as on the day of an appointed festival.w
8 The Lord determined to tear down
the wall around Daughter Zion.x
He stretched out a measuring liney
and did not withhold his hand from destroying.
He made rampartsz and walls lament;
together they wasted away.a
9 Her gatesb have sunk into the ground;
their barsc he has broken and destroyed.
Her king and her princes are exiledd among the nations,
the lawe is no more,
and her prophetsf no longer find
visionsg from the Lord.
10 The elders of Daughter Zion
sit on the ground in silence;h
they have sprinkled dusti on their headsj
and put on sackcloth.k
The young women of Jerusalem
have bowed their heads to the ground.l
11 My eyes fail from weeping,m
I am in torment withinn;
my hearto is poured outp on the ground
because my people are destroyed,q
because children and infants faintr
in the streets of the city.
“Where is bread and wine?”s
as they faint like the wounded
in the streets of the city,
as their lives ebb awayt
in their mothers’ arms.u
13 What can I say for you?v
With what can I compare you,
Daughterw Jerusalem?
To what can I liken you,
that I may comfort you,
Virgin Daughter Zion?x
Your wound is as deep as the sea.y
Who can heal you?
14 The visions of your prophets
were falsez and worthless;
they did not expose your sin
to ward off your captivity.a
The prophecies they gave you
were false and misleading.b
clap their hands at you;c
they scoffd and shake their headse
at Daughter Jerusalem:f
“Is this the city that was called
the perfection of beauty,g
the joy of the whole earth?”h
16 All your enemies open their mouths
wide against you;i
they scoff and gnash their teethj
and say, “We have swallowed her up.k
This is the day we have waited for;
we have lived to see it.”l
17 The Lord has done what he planned;
he has fulfilledm his word,
which he decreed long ago.n
He has overthrown you without pity,o
he has let the enemy gloat over you,p
he has exalted the horne of your foes.q
cry out to the Lord.r
You walls of Daughter Zion,s
let your tearst flow like a river
day and night;u
give yourself no relief,
your eyes no rest.v
19 Arise, cry out in the night,
as the watches of the night begin;
pour out your heartw like water
in the presence of the Lord.x
Lift up your handsy to him
for the lives of your children,
who faintz from hunger
at every street corner.
Whom have you ever treated like this?
Should women eat their offspring,a
the children they have cared for?b
Should priest and prophet be killedc
in the sanctuary of the Lord?d
21 “Young and old lie together
in the dust of the streets;
my young men and young women
have fallen by the sword.e
You have slain them in the day of your anger;
you have slaughtered them without pity.f
22 “As you summon to a feast day,
so you summoned against me terrorsg on every side.
In the day of the Lord’s anger
no one escapedh or survived;
those I cared for and rearedi
my enemy has destroyed.”