Chapter 1

The Sorrows of Zion

1 How alonely sits the city

That was bfull of people!

She has become like a cwidow

Who was once dgreat among the nations!

She who was a princess among the 1provinces

Has become a eforced laborer!

2 She aweeps bitterly in the night

And her tears are on her cheeks;

She has none to comfort her

Among all her blovers.

All her friends have cdealt treacherously with her;

They have become her enemies.

3 aJudah has gone into exile 1under affliction

And 1under 2harsh servitude;

She dwells bamong the nations,

But she has found no rest;

All cher pursuers have overtaken her

In the midst of 3distress.

4 The roads 1of Zion are in mourning

Because ano one comes to the appointed feasts.

All her gates are bdesolate;

Her priests are groaning,

Her cvirgins are afflicted,

And she herself 2is dbitter.

5 Her adversaries have become 1her masters,

Her enemies 2prosper;

For the Lord has acaused her grief

Because of the multitude of her transgressions;

Her little ones have gone away

As captives before the adversary.

6 All her amajesty

Has departed from the daughter of Zion;

Her princes have become like deer

That have found no pasture;

And they have 1bfled without strength

Before the pursuer.

7 In the days of her affliction and homelessness

aJerusalem remembers all her precious things

That were from the days of old,

When her people fell into the hand of the adversary

And bno one helped her.

The adversaries saw her,

They cmocked at her 1ruin.

8 Jerusalem sinned agreatly,

Therefore bshe has become an unclean thing.

All who honored her despise her

Because they have seen her nakedness;

Even cshe herself groans and turns away.

9 Her auncleanness was in her skirts;

She 1did not consider her bfuture.

Therefore she has 2cfallen astonishingly;

dShe has no comforter.

“eSee, O Lord, my affliction,

For the enemy has fmagnified himself!”

10 The adversary has stretched out his hand

Over all her precious things,

For she has seen the anations enter her sanctuary,

The ones whom You commanded

That they should bnot enter into Your congregation.

11 All her people groan aseeking bread;

They have given their precious things for food

To brestore their 1lives themselves.

“See, O Lord, and look,

For I am cdespised.”

12 “Is ait nothing to all you who pass this way?

Look and see if there is any 1pain like my 1pain

Which was severely dealt out to me,

Which the bLord inflicted on the day of His cfierce anger.

13 “From on high He sent fire into my abones,

And it 1prevailed over them.

He has spread a bnet for my feet;

He has turned me back;

He has made me cdesolate,

2Faint all day long.

14 “The ayoke of my transgressions is bound;

By His hand they are knit together.

They have bcome upon my neck;

He has made my strength 1fail.

The Lord chas given me into the hands

Of those against whom I am not able to stand.

15 “The aLord has rejected all my strong men

In my midst;

He has called an appointed 1time against me

To crush my byoung men;

The Lord has ctrodden as in a wine press

The virgin daughter of Judah.

16 “For these things I aweep;

1My eyes run down with water;

Because far from me is a bcomforter,

One who restores my soul.

My children are desolate

Because the enemy has prevailed.”

17 Zion astretches out her hands;

There is no one to comfort her;

The Lord has bcommanded concerning Jacob

That the ones round about him should be his adversaries;

cJerusalem has become an unclean thing among them.

18 “The Lord is arighteous;

For I have brebelled against His 1command;

Hear now, all peoples,

And cbehold my 2pain;

dMy virgins and my young men

Have gone into captivity.

19 “I acalled to my lovers, but they deceived me;

My bpriests and my elders perished in the city

While they sought food to crestore 1their strength themselves.

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

My 1aspirit is greatly troubled;

My heart is overturned within me,

For I have been very brebellious.

In the street the sword 2slays;

In the house it is like death.

21 “They have heard that I agroan;

There is no one to comfort me;

All my enemies have heard of my 1calamity;

They are bglad that You have done it.

Oh, that You would bring the day which You have proclaimed,

That they may become clike me.

22 “Let all their wickedness come before You;

And adeal with them as You have dealt with me

For all my transgressions;

For my groans are many and my heart is faint.”