Lamentations 1

English Standard Version

How Lonely Sits the City

1 ^(A)How lonely sits the city
    that was full of people!
How like ^(B)a widow has she become,
    she who was great among the nations!
She who was ^(C)a princess among the provinces
    has become ^(D)a slave.

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]

⁴The 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.

⁶From 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.

⁷Jerusalem 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.

⁹Her 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!”

¹⁰The 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.

¹¹All 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.”