1 [a] How deserted lies the city,
once so full of people!
How like a widow is she,
who once was great among the nations!
She who was queen among the provinces
has now become a slave.
2 Bitterly she
weeps at night,
tears are upon her cheeks.
Among all her lovers
there is none to comfort her.
All her friends have betrayed her;
they have become her enemies.
3 After affliction
and harsh labor,
She dwells among the nations;
she finds no resting place.
All who pursue her have overtaken her
in the midst of her distress.
4 The roads to
for no one comes to her appointed feasts.
All her gateways are desolate,
her priests groan,
her maidens grieve,
and she is in bitter anguish.
5 Her foes have
become her masters;
her enemies are at ease.
The LORD has brought her grief
because of her many sins.
Her children have gone into exile,
captive before the foe.
6 All the splendor
has departed
from the Daughter of Zion.
Her princes are like deer
that find no pasture;
in weakness they have fled
before the pursuer.
7 In the days of
her affliction and wandering
that were hers in days of old.
When her people fell into enemy hands,
there was no one to help her.
Her enemies looked at her
and laughed at her destruction.
8
and so has become unclean.
All who honored her despise her,
for they have seen her nakedness;
she herself groans
and turns away.
9 Her filthiness
clung to her skirts;
she did not consider her future.
Her fall was astounding;
there was none to comfort her.
"Look, O LORD, on my affliction,
for the enemy has triumphed."
10 The enemy laid
hands
on all her treasures;
she saw pagan nations
enter her sanctuary—
those you had forbidden
to enter your assembly.
11 All her people
groan
as they search for bread;
they barter their treasures for food
to keep themselves alive.
"Look, O LORD, and consider,
for I am despised."
12 "Is it
nothing to you, all you who pass by?
Look around and see.
Is any suffering like my suffering
that was inflicted on me,
that the LORD brought on me
in the day of his fierce anger?
13 "From on
high he sent fire,
sent it down into my bones.
He spread a net for my feet
and turned me back.
He made me desolate,
faint all the day long.
14 "My sins
have been bound into a yoke [b];
by his hands they were woven together.
They have come upon my neck
and the Lord has sapped my strength.
He has handed me over
to those I cannot withstand.
15 "The Lord
has rejected
all the warriors in my midst;
he has summoned an army against me
to [c] crush my young men.
In his winepress the Lord has trampled
the Virgin Daughter of Judah.
16 "This is
why I weep
and my eyes overflow with tears.
No one is near to comfort me,
no one to restore my spirit.
My children are destitute
because the enemy has prevailed."
17
but there is no one to comfort her.
The LORD has decreed for Jacob
that his neighbors become his foes;
an unclean thing among them.
18 "The LORD
is righteous,
yet I rebelled against his command.
Listen, all you peoples;
look upon my suffering.
My young men and maidens
have gone into exile.
19 "I called
to my allies
but they betrayed me.
My priests and my elders
perished in the city
while they searched for food
to keep themselves alive.
20 "See, O
LORD, how distressed I am!
I am in torment within,
and in my heart I am disturbed,
for I have been most rebellious.
Outside, the sword bereaves;
inside, there is only death.
21 "People
have heard my groaning,
but there is no one to comfort me.
All my enemies have heard of my distress;
they rejoice at what you have done.
May you bring the day you have announced
so they may become like me.
22 "Let all
their wickedness come before you;
deal with them
as you have dealt with me
because of all my sins.
My groans are many
and my heart is faint."
1[a] How the Lord has covered the Daughter of
Zion
with the cloud of his anger [b] !
He has hurled down the splendor of
from heaven to earth;
he has not remembered his footstool
in the day of his anger.
2 Without pity the
Lord has swallowed up
all the dwellings of Jacob;
in his wrath he has torn down
the strongholds of the Daughter of Judah.
He has brought her kingdom and its princes
down to the ground in dishonor.
3 In fierce anger
he has cut off
every horn [c] of
He has withdrawn his right hand
at the approach of the enemy.
He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire
that consumes everything around it.
4 Like an enemy he
has strung his bow;
his right hand is ready.
Like a foe he has slain
all who were pleasing to the eye;
he has poured out his wrath like fire
on the tent of the Daughter of Zion.
5 The Lord is like
an enemy;
he has swallowed up
He has swallowed up all her palaces
and destroyed her strongholds.
He has multiplied mourning and lamentation
for the Daughter of Judah.
6 He has laid waste his dwelling like a garden;
he has destroyed his place of meeting.
The LORD has made
her appointed feasts and her Sabbaths;
in his fierce anger he has spurned
both king and priest.
7 The Lord has
rejected his altar
and abandoned his sanctuary.
He has handed over to the enemy
the walls of her palaces;
they have raised a shout in the house of
the LORD
as on the day of an appointed feast.
8 The LORD
determined to tear down
the wall around the Daughter of Zion.
He stretched out a measuring line
and did not withhold his hand from
destroying.
He made ramparts and walls lament;
together they wasted away.
9 Her gates have
sunk into the ground;
their bars he has broken and destroyed.
Her king and her princes are exiled among
the nations,
the law is no more,
and her prophets no longer find
visions from the LORD.
10 The elders of
the Daughter of Zion
sit on the ground in silence;
they have sprinkled dust on their heads
and put on sackcloth.
The young women of
have bowed their heads to the ground.
11 My eyes fail
from weeping,
I am in torment within,
my heart is poured out
on the ground
because my people are destroyed,
because children and infants faint
in the streets of the city.
12 They say to
their mothers,
"Where is bread and wine?"
as they faint like wounded men
in the streets of the city,
as their lives ebb away
in their mothers' arms.
13 What can I say
for you?
With what can I compare you,
O Daughter of Jerusalem?
To what can I liken you,
that I may comfort you,
O Virgin Daughter of Zion?
Your wound is as deep as the sea.
Who can heal you?
14 The visions of
your prophets
were false and worthless;
they did not expose your sin
to ward off your captivity.
The oracles they gave you
were false and misleading.
15 All who pass
your way
clap their hands at you;
they scoff and shake their heads
at the Daughter of Jerusalem:
"Is this the city that was called
the perfection of beauty,
the joy of the whole earth?"
16 All your
enemies open their mouths
wide against you;
they scoff and gnash their teeth
and say, "We have swallowed her up.
This is the day we have waited for;
we have lived to see it."
17 The LORD has
done what he planned;
he has fulfilled his word,
which he decreed long ago.
He has overthrown you without pity,
he has let the enemy gloat over you,
he has exalted the horn [d] of your foes.
18 The hearts of
the people
cry out to the Lord.
O wall of the Daughter of Zion,
let your tears flow like a river
day and night;
give yourself no relief,
your eyes no rest.
19 Arise, cry out
in the night,
as the watches of the night begin;
pour out your heart like water
in the presence of the Lord.
Lift up your hands to him
for the lives of your children,
who faint from hunger
at the head of every street.
20 "Look, O
LORD, and consider:
Whom have you ever treated like this?
Should women eat their offspring,
the children they have cared for?
Should priest and prophet be killed
in the sanctuary of the Lord?
21 "Young and
old lie together
in the dust of the streets;
my young men and maidens
have fallen by the sword.
You have slain them in the day of your
anger;
you have slaughtered them without pity.
22
"As you summon to a feast day,
so you summoned against me terrors on
every side.
In the day of the LORD's
anger
no one escaped or survived;
those I cared for and reared,
my enemy has destroyed."
1 [a] I am the man who has seen affliction
by the rod of his wrath.
2 He has driven me
away and made me walk
in darkness rather than light;
3 indeed, he has
turned his hand against me
again and again, all day long.
4 He has made my
skin and my flesh grow old
and has broken my bones.
5 He has besieged
me and surrounded me
with bitterness and hardship.
6 He has made me
dwell in darkness
like those long dead.
7 He has walled me
in so I cannot escape;
he has weighed me down with chains.
8 Even when I call
out or cry for help,
he shuts out my prayer.
9 He has barred my
way with blocks of stone;
he has made my paths crooked.
10 Like a bear
lying in wait,
like a lion in hiding,
11 he dragged me
from the path and mangled me
and left me without help.
12 He drew his bow
and made me the target for his arrows.
13 He pierced my
heart
with arrows from his quiver.
14 I became the
laughingstock of all my people;
they mock me in song all day long.
15 He has filled
me with bitter herbs
and sated me with gall.
16 He has broken
my teeth with gravel;
he has trampled me in the dust.
17 I have been
deprived of peace;
I have forgotten what prosperity is.
18 So I say,
"My splendor is gone
and all that I had hoped from the
LORD."
19 I remember my
affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness and the gall.
20 I well remember
them,
and my soul is downcast within me.
21 Yet this I call
to mind
and therefore I have hope:
22 Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new
every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24 I say to
myself, "The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him."
25 The LORD is
good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
26 it is good to
wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD.
27 It is good for
a man to bear the yoke
while he is young.
28 Let him sit
alone in silence,
for the LORD has laid it on him.
29 Let him bury
his face in the dust—
there may yet be hope.
30 Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him,
and let him be filled with disgrace.
31 For men are not
cast off
by the Lord forever.
32 Though he
brings grief, he will show compassion,
so great is his unfailing love.
33 For he does not
willingly bring affliction
or grief to the children of men.
34 To crush
underfoot
all prisoners in the land,
35 to deny a man
his rights
before the Most High,
36
to deprive a man of justice—
would not the Lord see such things?
37 Who can speak
and have it happen
if the Lord has not decreed it?
38 Is it not from
the mouth of the Most High
that both calamities and good things come?
39 Why should any
living man complain
when punished for his sins?
40 Let us examine
our ways and test them,
and let us return to the LORD.
41 Let us lift up
our hearts and our hands
to God in heaven, and say:
42 "We have
sinned and rebelled
and you have not forgiven.
43 "You have
covered yourself with anger and pursued us;
you have slain without pity.
44 You have
covered yourself with a cloud
so that no prayer can get through.
45 You have made
us scum and refuse
among the nations.
46
"All our enemies have opened their mouths
wide against us.
47 We have
suffered terror and pitfalls,
ruin and destruction."
48 Streams of
tears flow from my eyes
because my people are destroyed.
49 My eyes will
flow unceasingly,
without relief,
50 until the LORD looks down
from heaven and sees.
51 What I see
brings grief to my soul
because of all the women of my city.
52 Those who were
my enemies without cause
hunted me like a bird.
53 They tried to
end my life in a pit
and threw stones at me;
54 the waters
closed over my head,
and I thought I was about to be cut off.
55 I called on
your name, O LORD,
from the depths of the pit.
56 You heard my
plea: "Do not close your ears
to my cry for relief."
57 You came near
when I called you,
and you said, "Do not fear."
58 O Lord, you
took up my case;
you redeemed my life.
59 You have seen,
O LORD, the wrong done to me.
Uphold my cause!
60 You have seen
the depth of their vengeance,
all their plots against me.
61 O LORD, you
have heard their insults,
all their plots against me-
62
what my enemies whisper and mutter
against me all day long.
63 Look at them!
Sitting or standing,
they mock me in their songs.
64 Pay them back
what they deserve, O LORD,
for what their hands have done.
65 Put a veil over
their hearts,
and may your curse be on them!
66 Pursue them in
anger and destroy them
from under the heavens of the LORD.
1[a] How the gold has lost its luster,
the fine gold become dull!
The sacred gems are scattered
at the head of every street.
2 How the precious
sons of
once worth their weight in gold,
are now considered as pots of clay,
the work of a potter's hands!
3 Even jackals
offer their breasts
to nurse their young,
but my people have become heartless
like ostriches in the desert.
4 Because of
thirst the infant's tongue
sticks to the roof of its mouth;
the children beg for bread,
but no one gives it to them.
5 Those who once ate delicacies
are destitute in the streets.
Those nurtured in purple
now lie on ash heaps.
6 The punishment
of my people
is greater than that of
which was overthrown in a moment
without a hand turned to help her.
7 Their princes
were brighter than snow
and whiter than milk,
their bodies more ruddy than rubies,
their appearance like sapphires. [b]
8 But now they are
blacker than soot;
they are not recognized in the streets.
Their skin has shriveled on their bones;
it has become as dry as a stick.
9 Those killed by
the sword are better off
than those who die of famine;
racked with hunger, they waste away
for lack of food from the field.
10 With their own
hands compassionate women
have cooked their own children,
who became their food
when my people were destroyed.
11 The LORD has
given full vent to his wrath;
he has poured out his fierce anger.
He kindled a fire in
that consumed her foundations.
12 The kings of
the earth did not believe,
nor did any of the world's people,
that enemies and foes could enter
the gates of
13 But it happened
because of the sins of her prophets
and the iniquities of her priests,
who shed within her
the blood of the righteous.
14 Now they grope
through the streets
like men who are blind.
They are so defiled with blood
that no one dares to touch their garments.
15 "Go away!
You are unclean!" men cry to them.
"Away! Away! Don't touch us!"
When they flee and wander about,
people among the nations say,
"They can stay here no longer."
16 The LORD
himself has scattered them;
he no longer watches over them.
The priests are shown no honor,
the elders no favor.
17 Moreover, our
eyes failed,
looking in vain for help;
from our towers we watched
for a nation that could not save us.
18 Men stalked us
at every step,
so we could not walk in our streets.
Our end was near,
our days were numbered,
for our end had come.
19 Our pursuers
were swifter
than eagles in the sky;
they chased us over the mountains
and lay in wait for us in the desert.
20 The LORD's anointed, our very life breath,
was caught in their traps.
We thought that under his shadow
we would live among the nations.
21 Rejoice and be
glad, O Daughter of
you who live in the
But to you also the cup will be passed;
you will be drunk and stripped naked.
22 O Daughter of
he will not prolong your exile.
But, O Daughter of Edom, he will punish
your sin
and expose your wickedness.
1 Remember, O
LORD, what has happened to us;
look, and see our disgrace.
2 Our inheritance
has been turned over to aliens,
our homes to foreigners.
3 We have become
orphans and fatherless,
our mothers like widows.
4 We must buy the
water we drink;
our wood can be had only at a price.
5 Those who pursue us are at our heels;
we are weary and find no rest.
6 We submitted to
to get enough bread.
7 Our fathers
sinned and are no more,
and we bear their punishment.
8 Slaves rule over
us,
and there is none to free us from their
hands.
9 We get our bread
at the risk of our lives
because of the sword in the desert.
10 Our skin is hot
as an oven,
feverish from hunger.
11 Women have been
ravished in
and virgins in the towns of
12 Princes have
been hung up by their hands;
elders are shown no respect.
13 Young men toil
at the millstones;
boys stagger under loads of wood.
14 The elders are
gone from the city gate;
the young men have stopped their music.
15 Joy is gone
from our hearts;
our dancing has turned to mourning.
16 The crown has
fallen from our head.
Woe to us, for we have sinned!
17 Because of this
our hearts are faint,
because of these things our eyes grow dim
18
for
with jackals prowling over it.
19 You, O LORD,
reign forever;
your throne endures from generation to
generation.
20 Why do you
always forget us?
Why do you forsake us so long?
21 Restore us to yourself, O LORD, that we may return;
renew our days as of old
22
unless you have utterly rejected us
and are angry with us beyond measure.