Lamentations 1-5

New American Standard Bible

1 How ^(A)lonely sits the city
That once had ^(B)many people!
She has become like a ^(C)widow
Who was once ^(D)great among the nations!
She who was a princess among the ^[a]provinces
Has become a ^(E)forced laborer!
² She ^(F)weeps bitterly in the night,
And her tears are on her cheeks;
She has no one to comfort her
Among all her ^(G)lovers.
All her friends have ^(H)dealt treacherously with her;
They have become her enemies.
^3 (I)Judah has gone into exile out of affliction
And ^[b]harsh servitude;
She lives ^(J)among the nations,
But she has not found a resting place;
All those who ^(K)pursued her have overtaken her
In the midst of ^[c]distress.
⁴ The roads ^[d]of Zion are in mourning
Because ^(L)no one comes to an appointed feast.
All her gates are ^(M)deserted;
Her priests groan,
Her ^(N)virgins are worried,
And as for Zion herself, it is ^(O)bitter for her.
⁵ Her adversaries have become ^[e]her masters,
Her enemies are ^[f]secure;
For the Lord has ^[g](P)caused her grief
Because of the multitude of her wrongdoings;
Her little ones have gone away
As captives ^[h]led by the enemy.
⁶ All of her ^(Q)splendor
Is gone from the daughter of Zion;
Her leaders have become like deer
That have found no pasture,
And they have ^[i](R)fled without strength
^[j]From the pursuer.
⁷ In the days of her affliction and homelessness
^(S)Jerusalem remembers all her treasures
That were hers since the days of old,
When her people fell into the hand of the adversary
And ^(T)no one helped her.
The adversaries saw her,
They ^(U)laughed at her ^[k]ruin.
⁸ Jerusalem sinned ^(V)greatly,
Therefore ^(W)she has become an ^[l]object of ridicule.
All who honored her despise her
Because they have seen her nakedness;
Even ^(X)she herself groans and turns away.
⁹ Her ^(Y)uncleanness was in her garment’s seams;
She ^[m]did not think of her ^(Z)future.
So she has ^[n](AA)fallen in an astonishing way;
^(AB)She has no comforter.
“^(AC)See, Lord, my affliction,
For the enemy has ^[o](AD)honored himself!”
¹⁰ The adversary has stretched out his hand
Over all her precious things,
For she has seen the ^(AE)nations enter her sanctuary,
The ones whom You commanded
That they were ^(AF)not to enter Your congregation.
¹¹ All her people groan, ^(AG)seeking bread;
They have given their treasures for food
To ^(AH)restore their ^[p]lives.
“See, Lord, and look,
For I am ^(AI)despised.”
¹² “Is it ^(AJ)nothing to all you who pass this way?
Look and see if there is any pain like my pain
Which was inflicted on me,
With which the ^(AK)Lord tormented me on the day of His ^(AL)fierce anger.
¹³ From ^[q]the height He sent fire into my ^(AM)bones,
And it dominated them.
He has spread a ^(AN)net for my feet;
He has turned me back;
He has made me ^(AO)desolate,
^[r]Faint all day long.
¹⁴ The ^(AP)yoke of my wrongdoings is bound;
By His hand they are woven together.
They have ^(AQ)come upon my neck;
He has made my strength ^[s]fail.
The Lord ^(AR)has handed me over
To those against whom I am not able to stand.
¹⁵ The ^(AS)Lord has thrown away all my strong men
In my midst;
He has called an appointed ^[t]time against me
To crush my ^(AT)young men;
The Lord has ^(AU)trodden as in a wine press
The virgin daughter of Judah.
¹⁶ For these things I ^(AV)weep;
^[u]My eyes run down with water;
Because far from me is a ^(AW)comforter,
One to restore my soul.
My children are desolate
Because the enemy has prevailed.”
¹⁷ Zion ^(AX)stretches out with her hands;
There is no one to comfort her;
The Lord has ^(AY)commanded regarding Jacob
That those around him become his adversaries;
^(AZ)Jerusalem has become a filthy thing among them.
¹⁸ “The Lord is ^(BA)righteous,
For I have ^(BB)rebelled against His ^[v]command;
Hear now, all peoples,
And ^(BC)see my pain;
^(BD)My virgins and my young men
Have gone into captivity.
¹⁹ I ^(BE)called to my lovers, but they deserted me;
My ^(BF)priests and my elders perished in the city
While they sought food to ^(BG)restore their ^[w]strength themselves.
²⁰ See, Lord, for I am in distress;
My ^[x](BH)spirit is greatly troubled;
My heart is overturned within me,
For I have been very ^(BI)rebellious.
In the street the sword has made women childless;
In the house it is like death.
²¹ They have heard that I ^(BJ)groan;
There is no one to comfort me,
All my enemies have heard of my disaster;
They are ^(BK)joyful that You have done it.
Oh, that You would bring the day which You have proclaimed,
So that they will become ^(BL)like me.
²² May all their wickedness come before You;
And ^(BM)deal with them just as You have dealt with me
For all my wrongdoings.
For my groans are many and my heart is faint.”

2 How the Lord has ^[y](BN)covered the daughter of Zion
With a cloud in His anger!
He has ^(BO)hurled
The ^(BP)glory of Israel from heaven to earth,
And has not remembered His ^(BQ)footstool
In the day of His anger.
² The Lord has ^[z](BR)destroyed; He has not spared
All the settlements of Jacob.
In His wrath He has ^(BS)overthrown
The strongholds of the daughter of Judah,
He has ^(BT)hurled them down to the ground;
He has ^(BU)profaned the kingdom and its leaders.
³ In fierce anger He has cut off
^[aa]All the ^(BV)strength of Israel;
He has ^(BW)pulled back His right hand
From the enemy.
And He has ^(BX)burned in Jacob like a flaming fire
Consuming on all sides.
⁴ He has bent His ^(BY)bow like an enemy;
His right hand is positioned like an adversary,
And He has killed everything that was ^(BZ)pleasant to the eye.
In the tent of the daughter of Zion
He has ^(CA)poured out His wrath like fire.
⁵ The Lord has become like an ^(CB)enemy.
He has ^(CC)engulfed Israel;
He has engulfed all its ^(CD)palaces,
He has destroyed its strongholds
And ^(CE)caused great mourning and grieving in the daughter of Judah.
⁶ And He has treated His ^[ab]tabernacle violently, like a despised garden;
He has ^(CF)destroyed His appointed ^[ac]meeting place.
The Lord has ^(CG)caused
The appointed feast and Sabbath in Zion to be forgotten,
And He has ^(CH)despised king and priest
In the indignation of His anger.
⁷ The Lord has ^(CI)rejected His altar,
He has ^[ad]repudiated His sanctuary;
He ^(CJ)has handed over
The walls of her palaces to the enemy.
They have made a ^(CK)noise in the house of the Lord
As on the day of an appointed feast.
⁸ The Lord determined to destroy
The wall of the daughter of Zion.
He has ^(CL)stretched out a line,
He has not restrained His hand from ^[ae]destroying,
And He has ^(CM)caused rampart and wall to mourn;
They have languished together.
⁹ Her ^(CN)gates have sunk into the ground,
He has destroyed and broken her bars.
Her king and her leaders are among the nations;
The ^(CO)Law is gone.
Her prophets, too, find
^(CP)No vision from the Lord.
¹⁰ The elders of the daughter of Zion
^(CQ)Sit on the ground and ^[af](CR)are silent.
They have thrown ^(CS)dust on their heads;
They have put on ^(CT)sackcloth.
The ^(CU)virgins of Jerusalem
Have bowed their heads to the ground.
¹¹ My ^(CV)eyes fail because of tears,
My ^[ag](CW)spirit is greatly troubled;
My ^[ah](CX)heart is poured out on the earth
^(CY)Because of the ^[ai]destruction of the daughter of my people,
When ^(CZ)little ones and infants languish
In the streets of the city.
¹² They say to their mothers,
“^(DA)Where is grain and wine?”
As they faint like a wounded person
In the streets of the city,
As their ^(DB)lives are poured out
^[aj]In their mothers’ arms.
¹³ How shall I admonish you?
What ^(DC)shall I compare to you,
Daughter of Jerusalem?
What shall I liken to you as I comfort you,
^(DD)Virgin daughter of Zion?
For your collapse is as vast as the sea;
Who can ^(DE)heal you?
¹⁴ Your ^(DF)prophets have seen for you
Worthless and deceptive visions;
And they have not ^(DG)exposed your wrongdoing
So as to restore you from captivity,
But they have ^(DH)seen for you worthless and misleading pronouncements.
¹⁵ All who pass along the way
^(DI)Clap their hands in ridicule at you;
They ^(DJ)[ak]hiss and shake their heads
At the daughter of Jerusalem:
“Is this the city of which they said,
‘^(DK)Perfect in beauty,
^(DL)A joy to all the earth’?”
¹⁶ All ^(DM)your enemies
Have opened their mouths wide against you;
They ^[al]hiss and ^(DN)gnash their teeth.
They say, “We have ^(DO)engulfed her!
This certainly is the ^(DP)day which we awaited;
We have reached it, we have seen it!”
¹⁷ The Lord has ^(DQ)done what He determined;
He has accomplished His word
Which He commanded from days of old.
He has torn down ^(DR)without sparing,
And He has helped the enemy to ^(DS)rejoice over you;
He has ^(DT)exalted the ^[am]might of your adversaries.
¹⁸ Their ^(DU)heart cried out to the Lord:
“You ^(DV)wall of the daughter of Zion,
Let your ^(DW)tears stream down like a river day and night;
Give yourself no relief,
Let ^[an]your eyes have no rest.
¹⁹ Arise, whimper in the ^(DX)night
At the beginning of the night watches;
^(DY)Pour out your heart like water
Before the presence of the Lord;
Raise your hands to Him
For the ^(DZ)life of your little ones
Who ^(EA)languish because of hunger
At the head of every street.
²⁰ See, Lord, and look!
With ^(EB)whom have You dealt this way?
Should women really ^(EC)eat their ^[ao]children,
The little ones who were ^[ap]born healthy?
Should ^(ED)priest and prophet really be killed
In the sanctuary of the Lord?
²¹ On the ground in the streets
Lie ^(EE)young and old;
My ^(EF)virgins and my young men
Have fallen by the sword.
You have put them to death on the day of Your anger,
You have slaughtered, ^(EG)without sparing.
²² You called as on the day of an appointed feast
My ^(EH)terrors on every side;
And there was ^(EI)no one who survived or escaped
On the day of the Lord’s anger.
As for those ^(EJ)whom I brought forth healthy and whom I raised,
My enemy annihilated them.”

3 I am the man who has ^(EK)seen misery
Because of the rod of His wrath.
² He has driven me and made me walk
In ^(EL)darkness and not in light.
³ Indeed, He has ^(EM)turned His hand against me
Repeatedly all the day.
⁴ He has consumed my ^(EN)flesh and my skin,
He has ^(EO)broken my bones.
⁵ He has ^[aq](EP)besieged and surrounded me with ^[ar](EQ)bitterness and hardship.
⁶ He has made me live in ^(ER)dark places,
Like those who have long been dead.
⁷ He has ^(ES)walled me in so that I cannot go out;
He has made my ^[as](ET)chain heavy.
⁸ Even when I cry out and call for help,
He ^(EU)shuts out my prayer.
⁹ He has ^(EV)blocked my ways with cut stone;
He has twisted my paths.
¹⁰ He is to me like a bear lying in wait,
Like a lion in secret places.
¹¹ He has made my ways deviate, and ^(EW)torn me to pieces;
He has made me desolate.
¹² He ^(EX)bent His bow
And ^(EY)took aim at me as a target for the arrow.
¹³ He made the ^[at]arrows of His ^(EZ)quiver
Enter my ^[au]inward parts.
¹⁴ I have become a ^(FA)laughingstock to all my people,
Their ^(FB)song of ridicule all the day.
¹⁵ He has ^(FC)filled me with bitterness,
He has made me drink plenty of wormwood.
¹⁶ He has also ^(FD)made my teeth grind with ^(FE)gravel;
He has made me cower in the ^(FF)dust.
¹⁷ My soul has been excluded ^(FG)from peace;
I have forgotten ^[av]happiness.
¹⁸ So I say, “My ^[aw]strength has failed,
And so has my ^(FH)hope from the Lord.”

¹⁹ Remember my misery and my homelessness, the ^(FI)wormwood and ^[ax]bitterness.
^20 (FJ)My soul certainly remembers,
And ^[ay]is ^(FK)bent over within me.
²¹ I recall this to my mind,
Therefore I ^[az](FL)wait.
^22 [ba]The Lord’s ^(FM)acts of mercy indeed do not end,
^(FN)For His compassions do not fail.
²³ They are new ^(FO)every morning;
Great is ^(FP)Your faithfulness.
²⁴ “The Lord is my ^(FQ)portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I ^[bb](FR)wait for Him.”
²⁵ The Lord is good to those who ^[bc](FS)await Him,
To the ^[bd]person who ^(FT)seeks Him.
²⁶ It is good that he ^(FU)waits silently
For the salvation of the Lord.
²⁷ It is good for a man to bear
The yoke in his youth.
²⁸ Let him ^(FV)sit alone and keep quiet,
Since He has laid it on him.
²⁹ Let him ^[be]put his mouth in the ^(FW)dust;
Perhaps there is ^(FX)hope.
³⁰ Let him give his ^(FY)cheek to the one who is going to strike him;
Let him be filled with shame.
³¹ For the Lord will ^(FZ)not reject forever,
³² For if He causes grief,
Then He will have ^(GA)compassion
In proportion to His abundant mercy.
³³ For He ^(GB)does not ^[bf]afflict ^[bg]willingly
Or ^[bh]grieve the sons of mankind.
³⁴ To crush under ^[bi]one’s feet
All the prisoners of the ^[bj]land,
³⁵ To ^[bk]deprive a man of ^(GC)justice
In the presence of the Most High,
³⁶ To ^[bl](GD)defraud someone in his lawsuit—
Of these things the Lord does not ^[bm]approve.
³⁷ Who is ^[bn]there who speaks and it ^(GE)comes to pass,
Unless the Lord has commanded it?
³⁸ Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
That ^[bo](GF)both adversity and good proceed?

4 How ^(HT)dark the gold has become,
How the pure gold has changed!
The sacred stones are spilled out
At the ^[by]corner of every street.
² The precious sons of Zion,
Weighed against pure gold,
How they are regarded as ^(HU)earthenware jars,
The work of a potter’s hands!
³ Even ^(HV)jackals offer the breast,
They nurse their young;
But the daughter of my people has proved herself ^(HW)cruel,
Like ^(HX)ostriches in the wilderness.
⁴ The ^(HY)tongue of the infant clings
To the roof of its mouth because of ^(HZ)thirst;
The children ^(IA)ask for bread,
But no one breaks it for them.
⁵ Those who used to eat ^(IB)delicacies
Are made to tremble in the streets;
Those who were raised in crimson clothing
Embrace garbage heaps.
⁶ For the ^[bz]wrongdoing of the daughter of my people
Is greater than the ^[ca](IC)sin of Sodom,
Which was ^(ID)overthrown as in a moment,
^[cb]And no hands were turned toward her.
⁷ Her ^[cc]consecrated ones were ^(IE)purer than snow,
They shined more than milk;
They were more ruddy in ^[cd]body than pearls of coral,
Their form was like ^[ce](IF)lapis lazuli.
⁸ Their appearance is ^(IG)darker than soot,
They are not recognized in the streets;
Their ^(IH)skin is shriveled on their bones,
It is dry, it has become like wood.
⁹ Better off are those ^(II)killed by the sword
Than those killed by hunger;
For they ^[cf](IJ)waste away, ^[cg]stricken
By the lack of the produce of the field.
¹⁰ The hands of compassionate women
^(IK)Boiled their own children;
They became ^(IL)food for them
Due to the destruction of the daughter of my people.
¹¹ The Lord has ^(IM)expended His wrath,
He has poured out His fierce anger;
And He has ^(IN)kindled a fire in Zion,
And it has consumed its foundations.
¹² The kings of the earth did not believe,
Nor did any of ^(IO)the inhabitants of the world,
That the adversary and the enemy
Would ^(IP)enter the gates of Jerusalem.
¹³ Because of the sins of her ^(IQ)prophets
And the wrongdoings of her priests,
Who have shed in her midst
The ^(IR)blood of the righteous,
¹⁴ They wandered, ^(IS)blind, in the streets;
They were defiled with ^(IT)blood,
Such that no one could touch their ^(IU)garments.
¹⁵ “Keep away! ^(IV)Unclean!” ^[ch]they cried out of themselves.
“Keep away, keep away, do not touch!”
For they ^(IW)distanced themselves as well as wandered;
People among the nations said,
“They shall not continue to reside with us.”
¹⁶ The presence of the Lord has scattered them,
He will not continue to look at them;
They did not ^[ci](IX)honor the priests,
They did not favor the elders.
¹⁷ Yet our eyes failed,
Looking for ^[cj]help was ^(IY)useless;
At our observation point we have watched
For a ^(IZ)nation that could not save.
¹⁸ They ^(JA)hunted our steps
So that we could not walk in our streets;
Our ^(JB)end drew near,
Our days were ^[ck]finished
For our end had come.
¹⁹ Our pursuers were ^(JC)swifter
Than the eagles of the sky;
They chased us on the mountains,
They waited in ambush for us in the wilderness.
²⁰ The ^(JD)breath of our nostrils, the ^(JE)Lord’s anointed,
Was ^(JF)captured in their pits,
Of whom we had said, “^[cl]In his ^(JG)shadow
We shall live among the nations.”
²¹ Rejoice and be joyful, daughter of ^(JH)Edom,
Who lives in the land of Uz;
But the ^(JI)cup will pass to you as well,
You will become drunk and expose yourself.
²² The punishment of your wrongdoing has been ^(JJ)completed, daughter of Zion;
He will no longer exile you.
But He ^(JK)will punish your wrongdoing, daughter of Edom;
He will expose your sins!

5 Remember, Lord, what has come upon us;
Look, and see our ^(JL)disgrace!
² Our inheritance has been turned over to ^(JM)strangers,
Our ^(JN)houses to foreigners.
³ We have become orphans, ^(JO)without a father;
Our mothers are like widows.
^4 [cm]We have to pay for our drinking ^(JP)water,
Our wood comes to us at a price.
^5 [cn]Our pursuers are at our necks;
We are worn out, we are given ^(JQ)no rest.
⁶ We have ^[co]submitted to ^(JR)Egypt and Assyria ^[cp]to get enough bread.
⁷ Our ^(JS)fathers sinned, and are gone;
It is we who have been burdened with the punishment for their wrongdoings.
^8 (JT)Slaves rule over us;
There is ^(JU)no one to rescue us from their hand.
⁹ We get our bread ^[cq]at the ^(JV)risk of our lives
Because of the sword in the wilderness.
¹⁰ Our skin has become as ^(JW)hot as an oven,
Because of the ravages of hunger.
¹¹ They violated the ^(JX)women in Zion,
The virgins in the cities of Judah.
¹² Leaders were hung by their hands;
^[cr](JY)Elders were not respected.
¹³ Young men ^[cs](JZ)worked at the grinding mill,
And youths ^(KA)staggered under loads of wood.
¹⁴ Elders are absent from the gate,
Young men from their ^(KB)music.
¹⁵ The joy of our hearts has ^(KC)ended;
Our dancing has been turned into mourning.
¹⁶ The ^(KD)crown has fallen from our head;
^(KE)Woe to us, for we have sinned!
¹⁷ Because of this our ^(KF)heart is faint,
Because of these things our ^(KG)eyes are dim;
¹⁸ Because of ^(KH)Mount Zion which lies desolate,
^(KI)Jackals prowl in it.