Lamentations 2:13–19

¹³What do I testify to thee, what do I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? What do I equal to thee, and I comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? For great as a sea is thy breach, Who doth give healing to thee? ¹⁴Thy prophets have seen for thee a false and insipid thing, And have not revealed concerning thine iniquity, To turn back thy captivity, And they see for thee false burdens and causes of expulsion. ¹⁵Clapped hands at thee have all passing by the way, They have hissed—and they shake the head At the daughter of Jerusalem: ‘Is this the city of which they said: The perfection of beauty, a joy to all the land?’ ¹⁶Opened against thee their mouth have all thine enemies, They have hissed, yea, they gnash the teeth, They have said: ‘We have swallowed her up, Surely this is the day that we looked for, We have found—we have seen.’ ¹⁷Jehovah hath done that which He devised, He hath fulfilled His saying That He commanded from the days of old, He hath broken down and hath not pitied, And causeth an enemy to rejoice over thee, He lifted up the horn of thine adversaries. ¹⁸Cried hath their heart unto the Lord; O wall of the daughter of Zion, Cause to go down as a stream tears daily and nightly, Give not rest to thyself, Let not the daughter of thine eye stand still. ¹⁹Arise, cry aloud in the night, At the beginning of the watches. Pour out as water thy heart, Over against the face of the Lord, Lift up unto Him thy hands, for the soul of thine infants, Who are feeble with hunger at the head of all out-places.