Lamentations 1:1-9

New American Standard Bible 1995

1 How ^(A)lonely sits the city
That was ^(B)full of 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 none 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 ^[b]under affliction
And ^[c]under ^[d]harsh servitude;
She dwells ^(J)among the nations,
But she has found no rest;
All ^(K)her pursuers have overtaken her
In the midst of ^[e]distress.
⁴ The roads ^[f]of Zion are in mourning
Because ^(L)no one comes to the appointed feasts.
All her gates are ^(M)desolate;
Her priests are groaning,
Her ^(N)virgins are afflicted,
And she herself ^[g]is ^(O)bitter.
⁵ Her adversaries have become ^[h]her masters,
Her enemies ^[i]prosper;
For the Lord has ^(P)caused her grief
Because of the multitude of her transgressions;
Her little ones have gone away
As captives before the adversary.
⁶ All her ^(Q)majesty
Has departed from the daughter of Zion;
Her princes have become like deer
That have found no pasture;
And they have ^[j](R)fled without strength
Before the pursuer.
⁷ In the days of her affliction and homelessness
^(S)Jerusalem remembers all her precious things
That were from 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)mocked at her ^[k]ruin.
⁸ Jerusalem sinned ^(V)greatly,
Therefore ^(W)she has become an unclean thing.
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 skirts;
She ^[l]did not consider her ^(Z)future.
Therefore she has ^[m](AA)fallen astonishingly;
^(AB)She has no comforter.
“^(AC)See, O Lord, my affliction,
For the enemy has ^(AD)magnified himself!”