Lamentations 1

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.”
12 “Is it nothing to you, all ^aoyou who pass by?
^apLook and see
if there is any sorrow like my sorrow,
which was brought upon me,
which ^aqthe Lord inflicted
on ^arthe day of his fierce anger.
13 “From on high he ^assent fire;
into my bones ▼

▼Septuagint; Hebrew  bones and

he made it descend;
^auhe spread a net for my feet;
he turned me back;
^avhe has left me stunned,
faint all the day long.
14 “My transgressions were bound ▼

▼The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain

into ^axa 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;
^aythe Lord has trodden as in a winepress
the virgin daughter of Judah.
16 “For these things ^azI weep;
my eyes flow with tears;
for ^baa comforter is far from me,
one to ^bbrevive my spirit;
my children are desolate,
for the enemy has prevailed.”
17 ^bcZion stretches out her hands,
but ^bdthere 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 ^be“The Lord is in the right,
^bffor I have rebelled against his word;
but hear, all you peoples,
and see my suffering;
^bgmy young women and my young men
have gone into captivity.
19 “I called to ^bhmy lovers,
but they deceived me;
my priests and elders
perished in the city,
while ^bithey sought food
to revive their strength.
20 “Look, O Lord, for I am in distress;
^bjmy stomach churns;
my heart is wrung within me,
because I have been very rebellious.
^bkIn the street the sword bereaves;
in the house it is like death.
21 “They heard ▼

▼Septuagint, Syriac Hear

^bmmy groaning,
yet ^bnthere is no one to comfort me.
All my enemies have heard of my trouble;
^bothey are glad that you have done it.
You have brought ▼

▼Syriac Bring

the day you announced;
^bqnow let them be as I am.
22 ^br“Let all their evildoing come before you,
and deal with them
as ^bsyou have dealt with me
because of all my transgressions;
for ^btmy groans are many,
and ^bumy heart is faint.”

Lamentations 2

The Lord Has Destroyed Without Pity

1 How the Lord in his anger
has set the daughter of Zion ^bvunder a cloud!
^bwHe has cast down from heaven to earth
the splendor of Israel;
he has not remembered ^bxhis footstool
in the day of his anger.
2 The Lord ^byhas swallowed up ^bzwithout mercy
all the habitations of Jacob;
in his wrath ^cahe has broken down
the strongholds of the daughter of Judah;
he has brought ^cbdown to the ground ^ccin dishonor
the kingdom ^cdand its rulers.
3 He has cut down in ^cefierce anger
all ^cfthe might of Israel;
^cghe has withdrawn from them his right hand
in the face of the enemy;
^chhe has burned like a flaming fire in Jacob,
consuming all around.
4 ^ciHe has bent his bow like an enemy,
with his right hand set ^cjlike a foe;
and he has killed all who were delightful in our eyes
in the tent of the daughter of Zion;
he has poured out his fury like fire.
5 ^ckThe Lord has become like an enemy;
^clhe has swallowed up Israel;
^cmhe has swallowed up all its palaces;
he has laid in ruins its strongholds,
and he has multiplied in the daughter of Judah
^cnmourning and lamentation.
6 He has laid waste his booth like a garden,
laid in ruins ^cohis meeting place;
^cpthe Lord has made Zion forget
festival and ^cqSabbath,
and in his fierce indignation has spurned king and priest.
7 ^crThe Lord has scorned his altar,
^csdisowned his sanctuary;
^cthe has delivered into the hand of the enemy
the walls of her palaces;
^cuthey raised a clamor in the house of the Lord
as on the day of festival.
8 ^cvThe Lord determined to lay in ruins
^cwthe wall of the daughter of Zion;
^cxhe stretched out the measuring line;
he did not restrain his hand from destroying;
^cyhe caused rampart and wall to lament;
^czthey languished together.
9 Her gates have sunk into the ground;
^dahe has ruined ^dband broken her bars;
^dcher king and princes are among the nations;
the law is no more,
and ^ddher prophets find
no vision from the Lord.
10 The elders of the daughter of Zion
^desit on the ground ^dfin silence;
^dgthey have thrown dust on their heads
and ^dhput on sackcloth;
the young women of Jerusalem
have bowed their heads to the ground.
11 ^diMy eyes are spent with weeping;
^djmy stomach churns;
^dkmy bile is poured out to the ground
^dlbecause of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
^dmbecause infants and babies ^dnfaint
in the streets of the city.
12 They cry to their mothers,
^do“Where is bread and wine?”
^dpas they faint like a wounded man
in the streets of the city,
as their life is poured out
on their mothers’ bosom.
13 What can I say for you, ^dqto what compare you,
O daughter of Jerusalem?
^drWhat can I liken to you, that I may comfort you,
O virgin daughter of Zion?
^dsFor your ruin is vast as the sea;
who can heal you?
14 ^dtYour prophets have seen for you
false and deceptive visions;
^duthey have not exposed your iniquity
to ^dvrestore your fortunes,
^dwbut have seen for you ^dxoracles
that are false and misleading.
15 All who pass along the way
clap their hands at you;
^dythey hiss and wag their heads
at the daughter of Jerusalem:
“Is this the city that was called
^dzthe perfection of beauty,
^eathe joy of all the earth?”
16 ^ebAll your enemies
rail against you;
they hiss, they gnash their teeth,
they cry: “We ^echave swallowed her!
Ah, this is the day we longed for;
now we have it; ^edwe see it!”
17 The Lord has done what he purposed;
he has carried out ^eehis word,
which he commanded ^eflong ago;
^eghe has thrown down ^ehwithout pity;
^eihe has made the enemy rejoice over you
and exalted the ^ejmight of your foes.
18 Their heart cried to the Lord.
O ^ekwall of the daughter of Zion,
^ellet tears stream down like a torrent
^emday and night!
^enGive yourself no rest,
^eoyour eyes no respite!
19 “Arise, ^epcry out in the night,
at the beginning of the night watches!
^eqPour out your heart like water
before the presence of the Lord!
^erLift your hands to him
for the lives of your children,
^eswho faint for hunger
at the head of every street.”
20 Look, O Lord, and see!
^etWith whom have you dealt thus?
^euShould women eat the fruit of their womb,
the children of ^evtheir tender care?
Should ^ewpriest and prophet be killed
in the sanctuary of the Lord?
21 In the dust of the streets
^exlie the young and the old;
^eymy young women and my young men
have fallen by the sword;
^ezyou have killed them in the day of your anger,
slaughtering ^fawithout pity.
22 You summoned as if to ^fba festival day
^fcmy terrors on every side,
^fdand on the day of the anger of the Lord
no one escaped or survived;
^fethose whom I held and raised
my enemy destroyed.