Lamentations 1
1 How lonely lies the city, once so full of people! She who was great among the nations has become a widow. The princess of the provinces has become a slave.
[ALEPH-BET] How she has sat alone, The city abounding with people! She has been as a widow, The mighty among nations! Princes among provinces, She has become tributary!
2 She weeps aloud in the night, with tears upon her cheeks. Among all her lovers there is no one to comfort her. All her friends have betrayed her; they have become her enemies.
She weeps severely in the night, And her tear [is] on her cheeks, There is no comforter for her out of all her lovers, All her friends dealt treacherously by her, They have been to her for enemies.
3 Judah has gone into exile under affliction and harsh slavery; she dwells among the nations but finds no place to rest. All her pursuers have overtaken her in the midst of her distress.
Removed has Judah because of affliction, And because of the abundance of her service; She has dwelt among nations, She has not found rest, All her pursuers have overtaken her between the straits.
4 The roads to Zion mourn, because no one comes to her appointed feasts. All her gates are deserted; her priests groan, her maidens grieve, and she herself is bitter with anguish.
The ways of Zion are mourning, Without any coming at the appointed time, All her gates are desolate, her priests sigh, Her virgins are afflicted—and she has bitterness.
5 Her foes have become her masters; her enemies are at ease. For the LORD has brought her grief because of her many transgressions. Her children have gone away as captives before the enemy.
Her adversaries have become chief, Her enemies have been at ease, For YHWH has afflicted her, For the abundance of her transgressions, Her infants have gone captive before the adversary.
6 All the splendor has departed from the Daughter of Zion. Her princes are like deer that find no pasture; they lack the strength to flee in the face of the hunter.
And all her honor goes out from the daughter of Zion, Her princes have been as harts—They have not found pasture, And they go powerless before a pursuer.
7 In the days of her affliction and wandering Jerusalem remembers all the treasures that were hers in days of old. When her people fell into enemy hands she received no help. Her enemies looked upon her, laughing at her downfall.
Jerusalem has remembered [In] the days of her affliction and her mournings, all her desirable things that were from the days of old, In the falling of her people into the hand of an adversary, And she has no helper; Adversaries have seen her, They have laughed at her cessation.
8 Jerusalem has sinned greatly; therefore she has become an object of scorn. All who honored her now despise her, for they have seen her nakedness; she herself groans and turns away.
A sin has Jerusalem sinned, Therefore she has become impure, All who honored her have esteemed her lightly, For they have seen her nakedness, Indeed, she herself has sighed and turns backward.
9 Her uncleanness stains her skirts; she did not consider her end. Her downfall was astounding; there was no one to comfort her. Look, O LORD, on my affliction, for the enemy has triumphed!
Her uncleanness [is] in her skirts, She has not remembered her latter end, And she comes down wonderfully, There is no comforter for her. See, O YHWH, my affliction, For an enemy has exerted himself.
10 The adversary has seized all her treasures. For she has seen the nations enter her sanctuary— those You had forbidden to enter Your assembly.
His hand has spread out an adversary On all her desirable things, For she has seen—Nations have entered her sanctuary, Concerning which You commanded, “They do not come into the assembly to you.”
11 All her people groan as they search for bread. They have traded their treasures for food to keep themselves alive. Look, O LORD, and consider, for I have become despised.
All her people are sighing—seeking bread, They have given their desirable things For food to refresh the body; See, O YHWH, and behold attentively, For I have been lightly esteemed.
12 Is this nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look around and see! Is there any sorrow like mine, which was inflicted on me, which the LORD made me suffer on the day of His fierce anger?
[Is it] nothing to you, all you passing by the way? Look attentively, and see, If there is any pain like my pain, That He is rolling to me? Whom YHWH has afflicted In the day of the fierceness of His anger.
13 He sent fire from on high, and it overpowered my bones. He spread a net for my feet and turned me back. He made me desolate, faint all the day long.
From above He has sent fire into my bone, And it subdues it, He has spread a net for my feet, He has turned me backward, He has made me desolate—all the day sick.
14 My transgressions are bound into a yoke, knit together by His hand; they are draped over my neck, and the Lord has broken my strength. He has delivered me into the hands of those I cannot withstand.
Bound has been the yoke of my transgressions by His hand, They are wrapped together, They have gone up on my neck, He has caused my power to stumble, The Lord has given me into hands, I am not able to rise.
15 The Lord has rejected all the mighty men in my midst; He has summoned an army against me to crush my young warriors. Like grapes in a winepress, the Lord has trampled the Virgin Daughter of Judah.
The Lord has trodden down all my mighty ones in my midst, He proclaimed an appointed time against me, To destroy my young men, The Lord has trodden a winepress, To the virgin daughter of Judah.
16 For these things I weep; my eyes flow with tears. For there is no one nearby to comfort me, no one to revive my soul. My children are destitute because the enemy has prevailed.
For these I am weeping, My eye, my eye, is running down with waters, For a comforter has been far from me, Refreshing my soul, My sons have been desolate, For mighty has been an enemy.
17 Zion stretches out her hands, but there is no one to comfort her. The LORD has decreed against Jacob that his neighbors become his foes. Jerusalem has become an unclean thing among them.
Zion has spread forth her hands, There is no comforter for her, YHWH has charged concerning Jacob, His neighbors [are] his adversaries, Jerusalem has become impure among them.
18 The LORD is righteous, for I have rebelled against His command. Listen, all you people; look upon my suffering. My young men and maidens have gone into captivity.
YHWH is righteous, For I have provoked His mouth. Now hear, all you peoples, and see my pain, My virgins and my young men have gone into captivity.
19 I called out to my lovers, but they have betrayed me. My priests and elders perished in the city while they searched for food to keep themselves alive.
I called for my lovers, they have deceived me, My priests and my elderly have expired in the city; When they have sought food for themselves, Then they give back their soul.
20 See, O LORD, how distressed I am! I am churning within; my heart is pounding within me, for I have been most rebellious. Outside, the sword bereaves; inside, there is death.
See, O YHWH, for distress [is] to me, My bowels have been troubled, My heart has been turned in my midst, For I have greatly provoked, From outside the sword has bereaved, In the house [it is] as death.
21 People have heard my groaning, but there is no one to comfort me. All my enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that You have caused it. May You bring the day You have announced, so that they may become like me.
They have heard that I have sighed, There is no comforter for me, All my enemies have heard of my calamity, They have rejoiced that You have done [it], You have brought in the day You have called, And they are like to me.
22 Let all their wickedness come before You, and deal with them as You have dealt with me because of all my transgressions. For my groans are many, and my heart is faint.
All their evil comes in before You, And one is doing to them as You have done to me, For all my transgressions, For many [are] my sighs, and my heart [is] sick!
