Lamentations 2:13–19

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

O daughter of Jerusalem?

What can I liken to you, that I may comfort you,

O virgin daughter of Zion?

For vast as the sea is your ruin;

who can restore you?

¹⁴Your prophets have seen for you

false and deceptive visions;

they have not exposed your iniquity

to restore your fortunes,

but have seen for you oracles

false and misleading.

¹⁵All who pass along the way

clap their hands at you;

they hiss and wag their heads

at the daughter of Jerusalem;

“Is this the city which was called

the perfection of beauty,

the joy of all the earth?”

¹⁶All your enemies

rail against you;

they hiss, they gnash their teeth,

they cry: “We have destroyed her!

Ah, this is the day we longed for;

now we have it; we see it!”

¹⁷The Lord has done what he purposed,

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 to the Lord!

O daughter of 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.