Jerusalem’s Sorrows

1 How empty is the city that was once full of people! She was once great among the nations. But now she has become like a woman whose husband has died. She who was once a queen among the cities has become a servant made to work. ² She cries hard in the night, with tears on her face. She has no one to comfort her among all her lovers. All her friends have not been faithful to her. They have turned against her. ³ Judah has been taken away to a strange land where she suffers much and is made to work hard as a servant. She lives among the nations, but has no rest. All those who went after her have taken her in her trouble. ⁴ The roads of Zion are filled with sorrow, because no one comes to the special suppers. All her gates are laid waste. Her religious leaders are crying in sorrow. Her pure young women are troubled, and she herself is in bitter suffering. ⁵ Those who hate her have power over her, and all goes well for them. For the Lord has made her suffer for her many sins. Her children have been taken away in front of those who hate her. ⁶ The people of Zion have lost all her great power. Her princes are like deer that find no field where they can eat. They are weak as they run away from those who are after them. ⁷ In the days of her trouble and when she had no home, Jerusalem remembers all the things of much worth that were hers in days long ago, when her people fell into the hands of those who hated her. No one helped her. Those who hated her saw her and made fun of her when she was destroyed. ⁸ Jerusalem sinned very much, so she is unclean. All who honored her hate her, because they have seen her put to shame. Even she herself cries in sorrow and turns away. ⁹ She was unclean in her clothing. She did not think about her future. She came to nothing. She had no one to comfort her. “O Lord, see my suffering, for those who hate me have won!” ¹⁰ Those who hate her have laid their hands on all her things of much worth. For she has seen the nations go into her holy place, those whom You said must not gather with Your people. ¹¹ All her people cry inside themselves as they look for bread. They have traded their things of much worth for food to have strength. “Look and see, O Lord, for I am hated. ¹² Is it nothing to all you who pass this way? Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow given me, which the Lord put on me in the day of His burning anger. ¹³ He sent fire from on high into my bones. He has spread a net for my feet and has turned me back. He has left me destroyed, and weak all day long. ¹⁴ The weight of my sins is put upon me. He tied them together and put them upon my neck. He has taken away my strength. The Lord has given me over to those I cannot stand against. ¹⁵ The Lord has turned away from all my strong soldiers. He has sent an army against me to crush my young men. The Lord has crushed the pure daughters of Judah like grapes are crushed to make wine. ¹⁶ This is why I cry. Tears flow from my eyes, because a comforter is far from me who would give strength to my soul. My children are destroyed, because those who hate me have won.” ¹⁷ Zion has put out her hands, but there is no one to comfort her. The Lord has spoken against Jacob, that his neighbors should fight against him. Jerusalem has become unclean to them. ¹⁸ “The Lord is right and good, yet I have not wanted to obey His Word. Listen now, all you people, and see my suffering. My pure young women and young men have been taken away to a strange land. ¹⁹ I called to my lovers, but they were not faithful to me. My religious leaders and leaders of the people died in the city, while they looked for food to get their strength back. ²⁰ See how I suffer, O Lord. My spirit is very troubled. My heart has no rest within me, for I have not obeyed. The sword kills in the street. In the house there is only death. ²¹ They have heard how I cry in sorrow. There is no one to comfort me. All those who hate me have heard of my trouble. They are glad for what You did. Bring the day that You have told us about, and let them become like me. ²² Let their sin come before You, and do to them what You have done to me because of all my sin. My cries are many, and my heart is weak.”

Jerusalem Is Punished

2 How the Lord has covered Zion with a cloud in His anger! He has thrown the shining-greatness of Israel from heaven to earth. In the day of His anger He has not remembered the place where He rests His feet. ² The Lord has destroyed all the places of Jacob. In His anger He has broken down the strong-places of Judah. He has brought the nation and its leaders down to the ground in shame. ³ In burning anger He has cut off all the strength of Israel. He would not help us fight against those who hate us. He has burned like a hot fire in Jacob, destroying everything around it. ⁴ He has pulled back His bow string like one who fights against us. He has set His right hand like one who hates us, and has killed all that we liked to see. He has poured out His anger like fire on the tent of Zion. ⁵ The Lord has become like one who hates us. He has destroyed Israel. He has destroyed all its beautiful houses. He has destroyed its strong-places, and has caused much sorrow and crying for the people of Judah. ⁶ He has broken down His house like a garden tent. He has destroyed His chosen meeting place. The Lord has caused the special suppers and Day of Rest to be forgotten in Zion. And He has hated the king and the religious leader in His anger. ⁷ The Lord has had nothing to do with His altar. He has left His holy place. He has given the walls of her beautiful houses over to those who hate us. They have made a noise in the house of the Lord as on the day of a special supper. ⁸ The Lord plans to destroy the wall of the people of Zion. He marked how long it was, and has not kept His hand from destroying. He has caused tower and wall to cry in sorrow. They suffer together. ⁹ Her gates have gone down into the ground. He has destroyed and broken her iron pieces. Her king and leaders have been sent among the nations. The Law is no more. And her men who spoke for God have no more special dreams from the Lord. ¹⁰ The leaders of the people of Zion sit quietly on the ground. They have thrown dust on their heads, and have dressed themselves in cloth made from hair. The pure young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground. ¹¹ My eyes become weak from crying. My spirit is very troubled. My heart is poured out in sorrow, because my people have been destroyed, and because children and babies fall down weak in the city streets. ¹² They cry to their mothers, “Where is bread and wine?” as they fall down weak in the city streets like a man hurt in battle, and as they die in their mothers’ arms. ¹³ What can I say for you? What can I compare you with, O people of Jerusalem? What can I compare you with, that I may comfort you, O pure daughter of Zion? For you have been destroyed as much as the sea is large. And who can heal you? ¹⁴ Your men who speak in God’s name have given you false and foolish dreams. They have not made your sin known, so you could return from where you are held. But they have told you false dreams that have led you the wrong way. ¹⁵ All who pass by clap their hands at you. They make fun of you and shake their heads at the people of Jerusalem, saying, “Is this the city which was called perfect in beauty, the joy of all the earth?” ¹⁶ All who hate you have opened their mouths wide against you. They make fun of you and grind their teeth and say, “We have destroyed her! For sure this is the day we have waited for! We have lived to see it!” ¹⁷ The Lord has done what He planned. He has done what He had said He would do long ago. He has destroyed without pity. He has caused those who hate you to have joy over you. He has given strength to those who fight against you. ¹⁸ Let your heart cry out to the Lord. O wall of the people of Zion, let your tears flow down like a river day and night. Give yourself no rest. Do not let your eyes stop crying. ¹⁹ Get up and cry out in the night, at the beginning of the night hours. Pour out your heart like water before the Lord. Lift up your hands to Him for the lives of your children who are weak with hunger on every street.” ²⁰ See, O Lord, and look! To whom have You done this? Should women eat their children, the little ones they have cared for? Should religious leaders and men of God be killed in the Lord’s holy place? ²¹ The young and the old lie in the dust of the streets. My pure young women and young men have been killed by the sword. You have killed them in the day of Your anger. You have killed without pity. ²² As people are asked to come to a special supper, You have sent trouble on every side. And no one got away or stayed alive in the day of the Lord’s anger. Those I have cared for and brought up have been destroyed by those who hate me.

Jerusalem’s Hope

3 I am the man who has been suffering because of the power of God’s anger. ² He has led me and brought me into darkness and not into light. ³ For sure He has turned His hand against me again and again all day long. ⁴ He has made my flesh and my skin waste away. He has broken my bones. ⁵ He has shut me in with trouble and suffering. ⁶ He has made me live in dark places, like those who have been dead a long time. ⁷ He has put a wall around me so that I cannot go out. He has put heavy chains on me. ⁸ Even when I cry and call for help, he shuts out my prayer. ⁹ He has stopped me with blocks of stone. He has made my paths no longer straight. ¹⁰ He is like a bear lying in wait, like a lion hiding in secret places. ¹¹ He has turned me from the path and torn me to pieces. He has destroyed me. ¹² He used His bow, and set me as a mark for His arrow. ¹³ He has taken out His arrows and sent them into my heart. ¹⁴ All my people laugh at me. They sing songs that make fun of me all day long. ¹⁵ He has filled me with bitter feelings. He has made me drunk with wormwood. ¹⁶ He has broken my teeth with rocks, and has covered me with dust. ¹⁷ Peace has left my soul. I have forgotten what it is like to be happy. ¹⁸ So I say, “My strength is gone, and so has my hope from the Lord.”

¹⁹ Remember my trouble and my traveling from place to place, the wormwood and bitter feelings. ²⁰ I remember it always, and my soul bows down within me. ²¹ But this I remember, and so I have hope. ²² It is because of the Lord’s loving-kindness that we are not destroyed for His loving-pity never ends. ²³ It is new every morning. He is so very faithful. ²⁴ “The Lord is my share.” says my soul, “so I have hope in Him.” ²⁵ The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the one who looks for Him. ²⁶ It is good that one should be quiet and wait for the saving power of the Lord. ²⁷ It is good for a man to carry the load while he is young. ²⁸ Let him sit alone and be quiet when God has laid the load on him. ²⁹ Let him put his mouth in the dust. There may be hope yet. ³⁰ Let him give his face to the one who hits him, and be filled with shame. ³¹ For the Lord will not turn away from a man forever. ³² For if He causes sorrow, He will have loving-pity because of His great loving-kindness. ³³ He does not want to cause trouble or sorrow for the children of men. ³⁴ He is not pleased when all those on earth who are in prison are crushed under foot. ³⁵ The Most High is not pleased when the rights are kept away from a man who is before Him, ³⁶ and when wrong is done to him in his cause. The Lord is not pleased with these things. ³⁷ Who has said that something would happen and then it did happen, unless the Lord has said that it should be? ³⁸ Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both good and bad come?

³⁹ Why should any living man complain about the punishment of his sins? ⁴⁰ Let us test and look over our ways, and return to the Lord. ⁴¹ Let us lift up our heart and hands to God in heaven, saying, ⁴² “We have sinned and would not obey You, and You have not forgiven us. ⁴³ You have covered Yourself with anger and have followed us, killing without pity. ⁴⁴ You have covered Yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can get through. ⁴⁵ You have made us a waste and something that is not wanted among the nations. ⁴⁶ All those who hate us have spoken against us. ⁴⁷ Fear and a trap have come upon us. We are laid waste and destroyed. ⁴⁸ My eyes flow with rivers of tears because my people are destroyed. ⁴⁹ Tears flow from my eyes all the time without stopping, ⁵⁰ until the Lord looks down from heaven and sees. ⁵¹ My eyes bring me suffering because of what is happening to all the women of my city. ⁵² I have been hunted like a bird by those who hate me for no reason. ⁵³ They threw me alive into the deep hole and have put a stone on me. ⁵⁴ Water flowed over my head, and I said, “I am cut off!” ⁵⁵ I called on Your name, O Lord, out of the deep hole. ⁵⁶ You have heard my voice. Do not close Your ears to my cry for help. ⁵⁷ You came near when I called You, and You said, “Do not be afraid!” ⁵⁸ You have helped me in my cause, O Lord. You have saved my life. ⁵⁹ O Lord, You have seen the wrong done to me. Judge in my favor. ⁶⁰ You have seen how much they hate me and plan against me. ⁶¹ O Lord, You have heard how they put me to shame and how they work against me. ⁶² The lips and thoughts of those who hurt me are against me all day long. ⁶³ Watch their sitting down and standing up. I am their song as they make fun of me. ⁶⁴ O Lord, You will punish them for what they have done. ⁶⁵ You will give them hard hearts, and curse them. ⁶⁶ Go after them in anger and destroy them from under Your heavens, O Lord.

Jerusalem’s Sinful Leaders

4 How dark the gold has become! How the pure gold has changed! The stones from the house of God are poured out at the corner of every street. ² The sons of Zion are worth their weight in fine gold. But they are thought of as clay pots, the work of a pot-maker’s hands! ³ Even wild dogs give their breast to feed their young, but my people show no pity. They are like ostriches in the desert. ⁴ The baby’s tongue sticks to the roof of its mouth because of thirst. The children beg for bread, but no one gives it to them. ⁵ Those who ate fine foods are dying in the streets. Those who were brought up dressed in purple now lie in ashes. ⁶ For the sin of the daughter of my people is worse than the sin of Sodom, which was destroyed all at once without a hand turned to help her. ⁷ Her religious leaders were more pure than snow. They were more white than milk. Their bodies were more red than coral. They were more beautiful than sapphire. ⁸ Now they look more black than dark ashes. No one knows who they are in the streets. Their skin has dried up on their bones. It has become as dry as wood. ⁹ Those who are killed with the sword are better off than those killed with hunger. For they waste away, suffering because they have no fruits of the field. ¹⁰ Women who had shown loving-kindness have boiled their own children for food, because my people are destroyed. ¹¹ The Lord has acted in His anger. He has poured out His burning anger, and has set a fire in Zion which has burned it to the ground. ¹² The kings of the earth and all the people of the world did not believe that those who hated them could come into the gates of Jerusalem. ¹³ This was because of the sins of her men who spoke in God’s name, and the sins of her religious leaders, who killed those within her who were right and good. ¹⁴ They walked as blind men through the streets. They were made unclean with blood so that no one could touch their clothing. ¹⁵ People cried to them, “Go away! You are unclean! Leave! Go away! Do not touch!” So they ran away and traveled from place to place. Men among the nations said, “They must not stay with us any longer.” ¹⁶ The Lord Himself has sent them everywhere. He will not care about them any more. They did not honor the religious leaders or favor the leaders of the people. ¹⁷ Our eyes have become weak in looking for help that did not come. In our watching we have waited for a nation that was not able to save us. ¹⁸ They kept following after our steps so that we could not walk in our streets. Our end came near. Our days were finished, for our end had come. ¹⁹ Those who came after us were faster than the eagles of the sky. They came after us on the mountains. They hid and waited for us in the desert. ²⁰ The Lord’s chosen one, our very breath, was caught in their traps. We had said about him, “Under his shadow we will live among the nations.” ²¹ Be filled with joy and be glad, O people of Edom, who live in the land of Uz. But the cup will be passed to you also. You will become drunk and your shame will be seen. ²² The punishment of your sin is completed, O people of Zion. The Lord will not keep you away any longer. But He will punish your sin, Edom. He will let your sins be seen!

Jerusalem’s Prayer for God’s Loving-Kindness

5 O Lord, remember what has happened to us. Look, and see our shame! ² The land we received from You has been given over to strangers. Our homes have been given to people from other lands. ³ We have lost our fathers. Our mothers are like those who have lost their husbands. ⁴ We have to pay for our drinking water, and we must buy our wood. ⁵ Those who come after us are at our necks. We are tired and cannot rest. ⁶ We have put out our hands to Egypt and Assyria to get enough bread. ⁷ Our fathers sinned, and are no more, and we have suffered for their sins. ⁸ Servants rule over us. There is no one to save us from their hand. ⁹ We put our lives in danger to get our bread, because of the sword in the desert. ¹⁰ Our skin has become as hot as fire because of the burning heat of hunger. ¹¹ They have taken and sinned against the women in Zion, and the young women who have never had a man in the cities of Judah. ¹² Rulers were hung by their hands. Leaders were not respected. ¹³ Young men worked to grind the grain, and boys fell under loads of wood. ¹⁴ The old men have left the city gate. Young men have stopped playing their music. ¹⁵ The joy of our hearts has come to an end. Our dancing has been turned into sorrow. ¹⁶ The crown has fallen from our head. It is bad for us, for we have sinned! ¹⁷ Because of this our heart is weak. Because of these things our eyes are weak. ¹⁸ Mount Zion lies in waste, so foxes run all over it.

¹⁹ O Lord, You rule forever. Your throne will last for all people-to-come. ²⁰ Why do You forget us forever? Why do You leave us alone for so long? ²¹ Return us to You, O Lord. Bring us back. Make our days as they were before. ²² Or have You turned away from us forever? Is there no end to Your anger?