Lamentations 1

Jerusalem in Affliction

1How lonely sits the city

That was full of people!

^aHow like a widow is she,

Who was great among the nations!

The ^bprincess among the provinces

Has become a ¹slave!

²She ^cweeps bitterly in the ^dnight,

Her tears are on her cheeks;

Among all her lovers

She has none to comfort her.

All her friends have dealt treacherously with her;

They have become her enemies.

^3eJudah has gone into captivity,

Under affliction and hard servitude;

^fShe dwells among the ²nations,

She finds no ^grest;

All her persecutors overtake her in dire straits.

⁴The roads to Zion mourn

Because no one comes to the ³set feasts.

All her gates are ^hdesolate;

Her priests sigh,

Her virgins are afflicted,

And she is in bitterness.

⁵Her adversaries ⁱhave become ⁴the master,

Her enemies prosper;

For the Lord has afflicted her

^jBecause of the multitude of her transgressions.

Her ^kchildren have gone into captivity before the enemy.

⁶And from the daughter of Zion

All her splendor has departed.

Her princes have become like deer

That find no pasture,

That ⁵flee without strength

Before the pursuer.

⁷In the days of her affliction and roaming,

Jerusalem ^lremembers all her pleasant things

That she had in the days of old.

When her people fell into the hand of the enemy,

With no one to help her,

The adversaries saw her

And mocked at her ⁶downfall.

^8mJerusalem has sinned gravely,

Therefore she has become ⁷vile.

All who honored her despise her

Because ⁿthey have seen her nakedness;

Yes, she sighs and turns away.

⁹Her uncleanness is in her skirts;

She ^odid not consider her destiny;

Therefore her collapse was awesome;

She had no comforter.

“O Lord, behold my affliction,

For the enemy is exalted!”

¹⁰The adversary has spread his hand

Over all her ⁸pleasant things;

For she has seen ^pthe nations enter her ⁹sanctuary,

Those whom You commanded

^qNot to enter Your assembly.

¹¹All her people sigh,

^rThey ¹seek bread;

They have given their ²valuables for food to restore life.

“See, O Lord, and consider,

For I am scorned.”

¹²“Is it nothing to you, all you who ³pass by?

Behold and see

^sIf there is any sorrow like my sorrow,

Which has been brought on me,

Which the Lord has inflicted

In the day of His fierce anger.

¹³“From above He has sent fire into my bones,

And it overpowered them;

He has ^tspread a net for my feet

And turned me back;

He has made me desolate

And faint all the day.

¹⁴“The ^uyoke of my transgressions was ⁴bound;

They were woven together by His hands,

And thrust upon my neck.

He made my strength fail;

The Lord delivered me into the hands of those whom I am not able to withstand.

¹⁵“The Lord has trampled underfoot all my mighty men in my midst;

He has called an assembly against me

To crush my young men;

^vThe Lord trampled as in a winepress

The virgin daughter of Judah.

¹⁶“For these things I weep;

My eye, ^wmy eye overflows with water;

Because the comforter, who should restore my life,

Is far from me.

My children are desolate

Because the enemy prevailed.”

^17xZion ⁵spreads out her hands,

But no one comforts her;

The Lord has commanded concerning Jacob

That those ^yaround him become his adversaries;

Jerusalem has become an unclean thing among them.

¹⁸“The Lord is ^zrighteous,

For I ^arebelled against His ⁶commandment.

Hear now, all peoples,

And behold my sorrow;

My virgins and my young men

Have gone into captivity.

¹⁹“I called for my lovers,

But they deceived me;

My priests and my elders

Breathed their last in the city,

While they sought food

To restore their life.

²⁰“See, O Lord, that I am in distress;

My ^bsoul ⁷is troubled;

My heart is overturned within me,

For I have been very rebellious.

^cOutside the sword bereaves,

At home it is like death.

²¹“They have heard that I sigh,

But no one comforts me.

All my enemies have heard of my trouble;

They are ^dglad that You have done it.

Bring on ^ethe day You have ⁸announced,

That they may become like me.

²²“Let ^fall their wickedness come before You,

And do to them as You have done to me

For all my transgressions;

For my sighs are many,

And my heart is faint.”