Jerusalem in Affliction

1 How 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!

2 She 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.

3 eJudah 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.

4 The 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.

5 Her 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.

6 And 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.

7 In 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.

8 mJerusalem 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.

9 Her 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!”

10 The 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.

11 All 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.”

17 xZion 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.”