Lamentations 2

New International Version

2 ^[a]How the Lord has covered Daughter Zion
    with the cloud of his anger^[b]!^(A)
He has hurled down the splendor of Israel
    from heaven to earth;
he has not remembered his footstool^(B)
    in the day of his anger.^(C)

² Without pity^(D) the Lord has swallowed^(E) up
    all the dwellings of Jacob;
in his wrath he has torn down
    the strongholds^(F) of Daughter Judah.
He has brought her kingdom and its princes
    down to the ground^(G) in dishonor.

³ In fierce anger he has cut off
    every horn^[c][d](H) of Israel.
He has withdrawn his right hand^(I)
    at the approach of the enemy.
He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire
    that consumes everything around it.^(J)

⁴ Like an enemy he has strung his bow;^(K)
    his right hand is ready.
Like a foe he has slain
    all who were pleasing to the eye;^(L)
he has poured out his wrath^(M) like fire^(N)
    on the tent^(O) of Daughter Zion.

⁵ The Lord is like an enemy;^(P)
    he has swallowed up Israel.
He has swallowed up all her palaces
    and destroyed her strongholds.^(Q)
He has multiplied mourning and lamentation^(R)
    for Daughter Judah.^(S)

⁶ He has laid waste his dwelling like a garden;
    he has destroyed^(T) his place of meeting.^(U)
The Lord has made Zion forget
    her appointed festivals and her Sabbaths;^(V)
in his fierce anger he has spurned
    both king and priest.^(W)

⁷ The Lord has rejected his altar
    and abandoned his sanctuary.^(X)
He has given the walls of her palaces^(Y)
    into the hands of the enemy;
they have raised a shout in the house of the Lord
    as on the day of an appointed festival.^(Z)

⁸ The Lord determined to tear down
    the wall around Daughter Zion.^(AA)
He stretched out a measuring line^(AB)
    and did not withhold his hand from destroying.
He made ramparts^(AC) and walls lament;
    together they wasted away.^(AD)

⁹ Her gates^(AE) have sunk into the ground;
    their bars^(AF) he has broken and destroyed.
Her king and her princes are exiled^(AG) among the nations,
    the law^(AH) is no more,
and her prophets^(AI) no longer find
    visions^(AJ) from the Lord.

¹⁰ The elders of Daughter Zion
    sit on the ground in silence;^(AK)
they have sprinkled dust^(AL) on their heads^(AM)
    and put on sackcloth.^(AN)
The young women of Jerusalem
    have bowed their heads to the ground.^(AO)

¹¹ My eyes fail from weeping,^(AP)
    I am in torment within^(AQ);
my heart^(AR) is poured out^(AS) on the ground
    because my people are destroyed,^(AT)
because children and infants faint^(AU)
    in the streets of the city.

¹² They say to their mothers,
    “Where is bread and wine?”^(AV)
as they faint like the wounded
    in the streets of the city,
as their lives ebb away^(AW)
    in their mothers’ arms.^(AX)

¹³ What can I say for you?^(AY)
    With what can I compare you,
    Daughter^(AZ) Jerusalem?
To what can I liken you,
    that I may comfort you,
    Virgin Daughter Zion?^(BA)
Your wound is as deep as the sea.^(BB)
    Who can heal you?

¹⁴ The visions of your prophets
    were false^(BC) and worthless;
they did not expose your sin
    to ward off your captivity.^(BD)
The prophecies they gave you
    were false and misleading.^(BE)

¹⁵ All who pass your way
    clap their hands at you;^(BF)
they scoff^(BG) and shake their heads^(BH)
    at Daughter Jerusalem:^(BI)
“Is this the city that was called
    the perfection of beauty,^(BJ)
    the joy of the whole earth?”^(BK)

¹⁶ All your enemies open their mouths
    wide against you;^(BL)
they scoff and gnash their teeth^(BM)
    and say, “We have swallowed her up.^(BN)
This is the day we have waited for;
    we have lived to see it.”^(BO)

¹⁷ The Lord has done what he planned;
    he has fulfilled^(BP) his word,
    which he decreed long ago.^(BQ)
He has overthrown you without pity,^(BR)
    he has let the enemy gloat over you,^(BS)
    he has exalted the horn^[e] of your foes.^(BT)

¹⁸ The hearts of the people
    cry out to the Lord.^(BU)
You walls of Daughter Zion,^(BV)
    let your tears^(BW) flow like a river
    day and night;^(BX)
give yourself no relief,
    your eyes no rest.^(BY)

¹⁹ Arise, cry out in the night,
    as the watches of the night begin;
pour out your heart^(BZ) like water
    in the presence of the Lord.^(CA)
Lift up your hands^(CB) to him
    for the lives of your children,
who faint^(CC) from hunger
    at every street corner.

²⁰ “Look, Lord, and consider:
    Whom have you ever treated like this?
Should women eat their offspring,^(CD)
    the children they have cared for?^(CE)
Should priest and prophet be killed^(CF)
    in the sanctuary of the Lord?^(CG)

²¹ “Young and old lie together
    in the dust of the streets;
my young men and young women
    have fallen by the sword.^(CH)
You have slain them in the day of your anger;
    you have slaughtered them without pity.^(CI)

²² “As you summon to a feast day,
    so you summoned against me terrors^(CJ) on every side.
In the day of the Lord’s anger
    no one escaped^(CK) or survived;
those I cared for and reared^(CL)
    my enemy has destroyed.”