Lamentations 1:1-2:19

English Standard Version

^2 (E)She weeps bitterly in the night,
    with tears on her cheeks;
^(F)among all her lovers
    she has ^(G)none to comfort her;
^(H)all her friends have dealt treacherously with her;
    they have become her enemies.

^3 (I)Judah has gone into exile because of affliction^[a]
    and hard servitude;
^(J)she dwells now among the nations,
    ^(K)but finds no resting place;
her pursuers have all overtaken her
    in the midst of her distress.^[b]

⁴ The roads to Zion mourn,
    for none come to ^(L)the festival;
^(M)all her gates are desolate;
    her priests ^(N)groan;
her virgins have been afflicted,^[c]
    and she herself suffers bitterly.

^5 (O)Her foes have become the head;
    her ^(P)enemies prosper,
because ^(Q)the Lord has afflicted her
    ^(R)for the multitude of her transgressions;
^(S)her children have gone away,
    captives before the foe.

⁶ From the daughter of Zion
    all her majesty has departed.
Her princes have become like deer
    ^(T)that find no pasture;
they fled without strength
    before the pursuer.

⁷ Jerusalem remembers
    in the days of her affliction and wandering
^(U)all the precious things
    that were hers from ^(V)days of old.
When her people fell into the hand of the foe,
    and there was none to help her,
her foes gloated over her;
    they ^(W)mocked at her downfall.

^8 (X)Jerusalem sinned grievously;
    therefore she became filthy;
all who honored her despise her,
    ^(Y)for they have seen her nakedness;
she herself ^(Z)groans
    and turns her face away.

⁹ Her uncleanness was ^(AA)in her skirts;
    ^(AB)she took no thought of her future;^[d]
therefore her fall is terrible;
    ^(AC)she has no comforter.
“O Lord, behold my affliction,
    for the enemy has ^(AD)triumphed!”

¹⁰ The enemy has stretched out his hands
    over all her ^(AE)precious things;
for she has seen ^(AF)the nations
    enter her sanctuary,
those whom you ^(AG)forbade
    to enter your congregation.

¹¹ All her people ^(AH)groan
    as ^(AI)they search for bread;
they trade their ^(AJ)treasures for ^(AK)food
    to revive their strength.
“Look, O Lord, and see,
    for I am despised.”

¹² “Is it nothing to you, all ^(AL)you who pass by?
    ^(AM)Look and see
if there is any sorrow like my sorrow,
    which was brought upon me,
which ^(AN)the Lord inflicted
    on ^(AO)the day of his fierce anger.

¹³ “From on high he ^(AP)sent fire;
    into my bones^[e] he made it descend;
^(AQ)he spread a net for my feet;
    he turned me back;
^(AR)he has left me stunned,
    faint all the day long.

¹⁴ “My transgressions were bound^[f] into ^(AS)a yoke;
    by his hand they were fastened together;
they were set upon my neck;
    he caused my strength to fail;
the Lord gave me into the hands
    of those whom I cannot withstand.

¹⁵ “The Lord rejected
    all my mighty men in my midst;
he summoned an assembly against me
    to crush my young men;
^(AT)the Lord has trodden as in a winepress
    the virgin daughter of Judah.

¹⁶ “For these things ^(AU)I weep;
    my eyes flow with tears;
for ^(AV)a comforter is far from me,
    one to ^(AW)revive my spirit;
my children are desolate,
    for the enemy has prevailed.”

^17 (AX)Zion stretches out her hands,
    but ^(AY)there is none to comfort her;
the Lord has commanded against Jacob
    that his neighbors should be his foes;
Jerusalem has become
    a filthy thing among them.

^18 (AZ)“The Lord is in the right,
    ^(BA)for I have rebelled against his word;
but hear, all you peoples,
    and see my suffering;
^(BB)my young women and my young men
    have gone into captivity.

¹⁹ “I called to ^(BC)my lovers,
    but they deceived me;
my priests and elders
    perished in the city,
while ^(BD)they sought food
    to revive their strength.

²⁰ “Look, O Lord, for I am in distress;
    ^(BE)my stomach churns;
my heart is wrung within me,
    because I have been very rebellious.
^(BF)In the street the sword bereaves;
    in the house it is like death.

²¹ “They heard^{[g] (BG)}my groaning,
    yet ^(BH)there is no one to comfort me.
All my enemies have heard of my trouble;
    ^(BI)they are glad that you have done it.
You have brought^[h] the day you announced;
    ^(BJ)now let them be as I am.

^22 (BK)“Let all their evildoing come before you,
    and deal with them
as ^(BL)you have dealt with me
    because of all my transgressions;
for ^(BM)my groans are many,
    and ^(BN)my heart is faint.”

² The Lord ^(BR)has swallowed up ^(BS)without mercy
    all the habitations of Jacob;
in his wrath ^(BT)he has broken down
    the strongholds of the daughter of Judah;
he has brought ^(BU)down to the ground ^(BV)in dishonor
    the kingdom ^(BW)and its rulers.

³ He has cut down in ^(BX)fierce anger
    all ^(BY)the might of Israel;
^(BZ)he has withdrawn from them his right hand
    in the face of the enemy;
^(CA)he has burned like a flaming fire in Jacob,
    consuming all around.

^4 (CB)He has bent his bow like an enemy,
    with his right hand set ^(CC)like a foe;
and he has killed all who were delightful in our eyes
    in the tent of the daughter of Zion;
he has poured out his fury like fire.

^5 (CD)The Lord has become like an enemy;
    ^(CE)he has swallowed up Israel;
^(CF)he has swallowed up all its palaces;
    he has laid in ruins its strongholds,
and he has multiplied in the daughter of Judah
    ^(CG)mourning and lamentation.

⁶ He has laid waste his booth like a garden,
    laid in ruins ^(CH)his meeting place;
^(CI)the Lord has made Zion forget
    festival and ^(CJ)Sabbath,
and in his fierce indignation has spurned king and priest.

^7 (CK)The Lord has scorned his altar,
    ^(CL)disowned his sanctuary;
^(CM)he has delivered into the hand of the enemy
    the walls of her palaces;
^(CN)they raised a clamor in the house of the Lord
    as on the day of festival.

^8 (CO)The Lord determined to lay in ruins
    ^(CP)the wall of the daughter of Zion;
^(CQ)he stretched out the measuring line;
    he did not restrain his hand from destroying;
^(CR)he caused rampart and wall to lament;
    ^(CS)they languished together.

⁹ Her gates have sunk into the ground;
    ^(CT)he has ruined ^(CU)and broken her bars;
^(CV)her king and princes are among the nations;
    the law is no more,
and ^(CW)her prophets find
    no vision from the Lord.

¹⁰ The elders of the daughter of Zion
    ^(CX)sit on the ground ^(CY)in silence;
^(CZ)they have thrown dust on their heads
    and ^(DA)put on sackcloth;
the young women of Jerusalem
    have bowed their heads to the ground.

^11 (DB)My eyes are spent with weeping;
    ^(DC)my stomach churns;
^(DD)my bile is poured out to the ground
    ^(DE)because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
^(DF)because infants and babies ^(DG)faint
    in the streets of the city.

¹² They cry to their mothers,
    ^(DH)“Where is bread and wine?”
^(DI)as they faint like a wounded man
    in the streets of the city,
as their life is poured out
    on their mothers' bosom.

¹³ What can I say for you, ^(DJ)to what compare you,
    O daughter of Jerusalem?
^(DK)What can I liken to you, that I may comfort you,
    O virgin daughter of Zion?
^(DL)For your ruin is vast as the sea;
    who can heal you?

^14 (DM)Your prophets have seen for you
    false and deceptive visions;
^(DN)they have not exposed your iniquity
    to ^(DO)restore your fortunes,
^(DP)but have seen for you ^(DQ)oracles
    that are false and misleading.

¹⁵ All who pass along the way
    clap their hands at you;
^(DR)they hiss and wag their heads
    at the daughter of Jerusalem:
“Is this the city that was called
    ^(DS)the perfection of beauty,
    ^(DT)the joy of all the earth?”

^16 (DU)All your enemies
    rail against you;
they hiss, they gnash their teeth,
    they cry: “We ^(DV)have swallowed her!
Ah, this is the day we longed for;
    now we have it; ^(DW)we see it!”

¹⁷ The Lord has done what he purposed;
    he has carried out ^(DX)his word,
which he commanded ^(DY)long ago;
    ^(DZ)he has thrown down ^(EA)without pity;
^(EB)he has made the enemy rejoice over you
    and exalted the ^(EC)might of your foes.

¹⁸ Their heart cried to the Lord.
    O ^(ED)wall of the daughter of Zion,
^(EE)let tears stream down like a torrent
    ^(EF)day and night!
^(EG)Give yourself no rest,
    ^(EH)your eyes no respite!

¹⁹ “Arise, ^(EI)cry out in the night,
    at the beginning of the night watches!
^(EJ)Pour out your heart like water
    before the presence of the Lord!
^(EK)Lift your hands to him
    for the lives of your children,
^(EL)who faint for hunger
    at the head of every street.”