Lamentations 2:13–19

¹³What can I say for you, to what compare you,

O daughter Jerusalem?

To what can I liken you, that I may comfort you,

O virgin daughter Zion?

For vast as the sea is your ruin;

who can heal you?^*

¹⁴Your prophets have seen for you

false and deceptive visions;

they have not exposed your iniquity

to restore your fortunes

but have seen oracles for you

that are false and misleading.^*

¹⁵All who pass along the way

clap their hands at you;

they hiss and wag their heads

at daughter Jerusalem:

“Is this the city that was called

the perfection of beauty,

the joy of all the earth?”^*

¹⁶All your enemies

open their mouths against you;

they hiss, they gnash their teeth,

they cry: “We have devoured her!

Ah, this is the day we longed for;

at last we have seen it!”^*

¹⁷The Lord has done what he purposed;

he has carried out his threat;

as he ordained long ago,

he has demolished without pity;

he has made the enemy rejoice over you

and exalted the might of your foes.^*

¹⁸Cry aloud^h to the Lord!

O wall of daughter Zion!

Let tears stream down like a torrent

day and night!

Give yourself no rest,

your eyes no respite!^*

¹⁹Arise, cry out in the night,

at the beginning of the watches!

Pour out your heart like water

before the presence of the Lord!

Lift your hands to him

for the lives of your children,

who faint for hunger

at the head of every street.^*