Her foes have become her masters;
    her enemies are at ease.
The Lord has brought her grief(A)
    because of her many sins.(B)
Her children have gone into exile,(C)
    captive before the foe.(D)

All the splendor has departed
    from Daughter Zion.(E)
Her princes are like deer
    that find no pasture;
in weakness they have fled(F)
    before the pursuer.

In the days of her affliction and wandering
    Jerusalem remembers all the treasures
    that were hers in days of old.
When her people fell into enemy hands,
    there was no one to help her.(G)
Her enemies looked at her
    and laughed(H) at her destruction.

Jerusalem has sinned(I) greatly
    and so has become unclean.(J)
All who honored her despise her,
    for they have all seen her naked;(K)
she herself groans(L)
    and turns away.

Her filthiness clung to her skirts;
    she did not consider her future.(M)
Her fall(N) was astounding;
    there was none to comfort(O) her.
“Look, Lord, on my affliction,(P)
    for the enemy has triumphed.”

10 The enemy laid hands
    on all her treasures;(Q)
she saw pagan nations
    enter her sanctuary(R)
those you had forbidden(S)
    to enter your assembly.

11 All her people groan(T)
    as they search for bread;(U)
they barter their treasures for food
    to keep themselves alive.
“Look, Lord, and consider,
    for I am despised.”

12 “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?(V)
    Look around and see.
Is any suffering like my suffering(W)
    that was inflicted on me,
that the Lord brought on me
    in the day of his fierce anger?(X)

13 “From on high he sent fire,
    sent it down into my bones.(Y)
He spread a net(Z) for my feet
    and turned me back.
He made me desolate,(AA)
    faint(AB) all the day long.

14 “My sins have been bound into a yoke[a];(AC)
    by his hands they were woven together.
They have been hung on my neck,
    and the Lord has sapped my strength.
He has given me into the hands(AD)
    of those I cannot withstand.

15 “The Lord has rejected
    all the warriors in my midst;(AE)
he has summoned an army(AF) against me
    to[b] crush my young men.(AG)
In his winepress(AH) the Lord has trampled(AI)
    Virgin Daughter(AJ) Judah.

16 “This is why I weep
    and my eyes overflow with tears.(AK)
No one is near to comfort(AL) me,
    no one to restore my spirit.
My children are destitute
    because the enemy has prevailed.”(AM)

17 Zion stretches out her hands,(AN)
    but there is no one to comfort her.
The Lord has decreed for Jacob
    that his neighbors become his foes;(AO)
Jerusalem has become
    an unclean(AP) thing(AQ) among them.

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Footnotes

  1. Lamentations 1:14 Most Hebrew manuscripts; many Hebrew manuscripts and Septuagint He kept watch over my sins
  2. Lamentations 1:15 Or has set a time for me / when he will

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