Lam 1:1-11 | ESV | STEP | How lonely sits the city that was full of people ! How like a widow has she become, she who was great among the nations ! She who was a princess among the provinces has become a slave .

ak[See ver. 8 above]

Lamentations 1:1-11

How Lonely Sits the City

1 ^aHow lonely sits the city
that was full of people!
How like ^ba widow has she become,
she who was great among the nations!
She who was ^ca princess among the provinces
has become ^da slave.
2 ^eShe weeps bitterly in the night,
with tears on her cheeks;
^famong all her lovers
she has ^gnone to comfort her;
^hall her friends have dealt treacherously with her;
they have become her enemies.
3 ⁱJudah has gone into exile because of affliction
and hard servitude;
^jshe dwells now among the nations,
^kbut finds no resting place;
her pursuers have all overtaken her
in the midst of her distress. ^{▼▼Or in the narrow passes}
4 The roads to Zion mourn,
for none come to ^mthe festival;
ⁿall her gates are desolate;
her priests ^ogroan;
her virgins have been afflicted, ^{▼▼Septuagint, Old Latin dragged away}
and she herself suffers bitterly.
5 ^qHer foes have become the head;
her ^renemies prosper,
because ^sthe Lord has afflicted her
^tfor the multitude of her transgressions;
^uher children have gone away,
captives before the foe.
6 From the daughter of Zion
all her majesty has departed.
Her princes have become like deer
^vthat find no pasture;
they fled without strength
before the pursuer.
7 Jerusalem remembers
in the days of her affliction and wandering
^wall the precious things
that were hers from ^xdays 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 ^ymocked at her downfall.
8 ^zJerusalem sinned grievously;
therefore she became filthy;
all who honored her despise her,
^aafor they have seen her nakedness;
she herself ^abgroans
and turns her face away.
9 Her uncleanness was ^acin her skirts;
^adshe took no thought of her future; ^{▼▼Or end}
therefore her fall is terrible;
^afshe has no comforter.
“O Lord, behold my affliction,
for the enemy has ^agtriumphed!”
10 The enemy has stretched out his hands
over all her ^ahprecious things;
for she has seen ^aithe nations
enter her sanctuary,
those whom you ^ajforbade
to enter your congregation.
11 All her people ^akgroan
as ^althey search for bread;
they trade their ^amtreasures for ^anfood
to revive their strength.
“Look, O Lord, and see,
for I am despised.”