Lamentations 2

2^aHow the Lord has covered Daughter Zion

with the cloud of his anger^b!^x

He has hurled down the splendor of Israel

from heaven to earth;

he has not remembered his footstool^y

in the day of his anger.^z

²Without pity^a the Lord has swallowed^b up

all the dwellings of Jacob;

in his wrath he has torn down

the strongholds^c of Daughter Judah.

He has brought her kingdom and its princes

down to the ground^d in dishonor.

³In fierce anger he has cut off

every horn^cde of Israel.

He has withdrawn his right hand^f

at the approach of the enemy.

He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire

that consumes everything around it.^g

⁴Like 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 wrath^j like fire^k

on the tent^l of Daughter Zion.

⁵The 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 lamentation^o

for Daughter Judah.^p

⁶He has laid waste his dwelling like a garden;

he has destroyed^q 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

⁷The Lord has rejected his altar

and abandoned his sanctuary.^u

He has given the walls of her palaces^v

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

⁸The Lord determined to tear down

the wall around Daughter Zion.^x

He stretched out a measuring line^y

and did not withhold his hand from destroying.

He made ramparts^z and walls lament;

together they wasted away.^a

⁹Her gates^b have sunk into the ground;

their bars^c he has broken and destroyed.

Her king and her princes are exiled^d among the nations,

the law^e is no more,

and her prophets^f no longer find

visions^g from the Lord.

¹⁰The elders of Daughter Zion

sit on the ground in silence;^h

they have sprinkled dustⁱ on their heads^j

and put on sackcloth.^k

The young women of Jerusalem

have bowed their heads to the ground.^l

¹¹My eyes fail from weeping,^m

I am in torment withinⁿ;

my heart^o is poured out^p on the ground

because my people are destroyed,^q

because children and infants faint^r

in the streets of the city.

¹²They say to their mothers,

“Where is bread and wine?”^s

as they faint like the wounded

in the streets of the city,

as their lives ebb away^t

in their mothers’ arms.^u

¹³What can I say for you?^v

With what can I compare you,

Daughter^w 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?

¹⁴The visions of your prophets

were false^z and worthless;

they did not expose your sin

to ward off your captivity.^a

The prophecies they gave you

were false and misleading.^b

¹⁵All who pass your way

clap their hands at you;^c

they scoff^d and shake their heads^e

at Daughter Jerusalem:^f

“Is this the city that was called

the perfection of beauty,^g

the joy of the whole earth?”^h

¹⁶All your enemies open their mouths

wide against you;ⁱ

they scoff and gnash their teeth^j

and say, “We have swallowed her up.^k

This is the day we have waited for;

we have lived to see it.”^l

¹⁷The Lord has done what he planned;

he has fulfilled^m 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 horn^e of your foes.^q

¹⁸The hearts of the people

cry out to the Lord.^r

You walls of Daughter Zion,^s

let your tears^t flow like a river

day and night;^u

give yourself no relief,

your eyes no rest.^v

¹⁹Arise, cry out in the night,

as the watches of the night begin;

pour out your heart^w like water

in the presence of the Lord.^x

Lift up your hands^y to him

for the lives of your children,

who faint^z from hunger

at every street corner.

²⁰“Look, Lord, and consider:

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 killed^c

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 terrors^g on every side.

In the day of the Lord’s anger

no one escaped^h or survived;

those I cared for and rearedⁱ

my enemy has destroyed.”