Lamentations 2
1 ALEPH. How has the Lord darkened in his wrath the daughter of Sion! he has cast down the glory of Israel from heaven to earth, and has not remembered his footstool.
How could My Lord, in his anger, enshroud in gloom, the daughter of Zion? have cast from the heavens to the earth, the beauty of Israel? and not have remembered his footstool, in the day of his anger?
2 BETH. In the day of his wrath the Lord has overwhelmed [her] as in the sea, [and] not spared: he has brought down in his fury all the beautiful things of Jacob; he has brought down to the ground the strongholds of the daughter of Juda; he has profaned her kings and her princes.
My Lord hath swallowed up—without pity—all the pastures of Jacob, hath laid waste—in his indignation—the strongholds of the daughter of Judah, hath brought them down to the ground, —hath profaned the kingdom, and the princes thereof.
3 GIMEL. He has broken in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel: he has turned back his right hand from the face of the enemy, and has kindled a flame in Jacob as a fire, and it has devoured all things round about.
He hath broken off—in the glow of his anger—the whole horn of Israel, hath turned back his right hand, from the face of the foe, —and hath kindled against Jacob, a very fire of flame, devouring round about.
4 DALETH. He has bent his bow as an opposing enemy: he has strengthened his right hand as an adversary, and has destroyed all the desirable things of my eyes in the tabernacle of the daughter of Sion: he has poured forth his anger as fire.
He hath trodden his bow like a foe, his right hand erect as an adversary, and hath slain all them who delighted the eye, —In the home of the daughter of Zion, hath he poured out, as fire, his indignation.
5 HE. The Lord is become as an enemy: he has overwhelmed Israel as in the sea, he has overwhelmed her palaces: he has destroyed her strongholds, and has multiplied the afflicted and humbled ones to the daughter of Juda.
My Lord hath become like a foe, hath swallowed up Israel, hath swallowed up all her castles, ruined his strongholds, —and hath caused to abound, in the daughter of Judah, lamentation and mourning.
6 VAU. And he has scattered his tabernacle as a vine, he has marred his feast: the Lord has forgotten the feast and the sabbath which he appointed in Sion, and in the fury of his wrath has vexed the king, and priest, and prince.
Thus hath he destroyed, like a garden, his pavilion, hath laid waste his place of assembly, —Yahweh, hath caused to be forgotten, in Zion, the appointed assembly and the sabbath, and hath spurned, in the indignation of his anger, the king and the priest.
7 ZAIN. The Lord has rejected his altar, he has cast off his sanctuary, he has broken by the hand of the enemy the wall of her palaces; they have uttered their voice in the house of the Lord as on a feast day.
My Lord hath rejected his altar, hath abhorred his sanctuary, hath delivered, into the hand of the foe, the walls of her castles, —A voice, have they uttered in the house of Yahweh, as on the day of an appointed assembly.
8 HETH. And he has turned to destroy the wall of the daughter of Sion: he has stretched out the measuring line, he has not turned back his hand from afflicting [her]: therefore the bulwark mourned, and the wall was weakened with it.
Yahweh hath devised to lay in ruins, the wall of the daughter of Zion, he hath stretched out a line, he hath not turned back his hand from swallowing up, —Thus hath he caused to mourn—rampart and wall, together, have they languished!
9 TETH. Her gates are sunk into the ground: he has destroyed and broken to pieces her bars, [and] her king and her prince amongst the Gentiles: there is no law, nay, her prophets have seen no vision from the Lord.
Her gates, have sunk in the earth, He hath destroyed and broken in pieces, her bars, —Her king and her princes, are among the nations, There is no instruction, Even her prophets, have found no vision, from Yahweh.
10 JOD. The elders of the daughter of Sion have sat upon the ground, they have kept silence: they have cast up dust upon their heads; they have girded themselves with sackcloths: they have brought down to the ground the chief virgins in Jerusalem.
Seated on the ground, in silence, are the elders of the daughter of Zion, They have lifted up dust on their head, have girded themselves with sackcloth, —Bowed down to the ground is the head, of the virgins of Jerusalem.
11 CHAPH. Mine eyes have failed with tears, my heart is troubled, my glory is cast down to the ground, for the destruction of the daughter of my people; while the infant and suckling swoon in the streets of the city.
Blinded with tears are mine eyes, In ferment is my body, Poured out to the earth is my grief, for the sore hurt of the daughter of my people, —when child and suckling are swooning, in the broadways of the city.
12 LAMED. They said to their mothers, Where is corn and wine? while they fainted like wounded men in the streets of the city, while their souls were poured out into their mother's bosom.
To their mothers, they keep saying, Where are corn and wine? Swooning off, like one thrust through, in the broadways of the city, pouring out their life into the bosom of their mothers.
13 MEM. What shall I testify to you, or what shall I compare to you, O daughter of Jerusalem? who shall save and comfort you, O virgin daughter of Sion? for the cup of your destruction is enlarged: who shall heal you?
How shall I solemnly admonish thee? What shall I liken to thee, thou daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I compare with thee, that I may comfort thee, thou virgin, daughter of Zion? for, great as the sea, is thy grievous injury, Who can heal thee?
14 NUN. Your prophets have seen for you vanities and folly: and they have not discovered your iniquity, to turn back your captivity; but they have seen for you vain burdens, and worthless visions.
Thy prophets, have had visions for thee, false and foolish, and have not unveiled thine iniquity, to turn back thy captivity, —Yea they have had visions for thee, oracles of falsehood, and enticements!
15 SAMECH. All that go by the way have clapped their hands at you; they have hissed and shaken their head at the daughter of Jerusalem. Is this the city, they say, the crown of joy of all the earth?
All passing by, have clapped, over thee, their hands, have hissed and wagged their head over the daughter of Jerusalem, —[saying], Is, this, the city, of which men used to say—The perfection of beauty! A joy to the whole earth!
16 AIN. All your enemies have opened their mouth against you: they have hissed and gnashed their teeth, and said, We have swallowed her up: moreover this is the day which we looked for; we have found it, we have seen it.
All thy foes, have opened wide, over thee their mouth, They have hissed, and gnashed their teeth, They have said—We have swallowed [her] up! Surely, this, is the day for which we have waited, We have found! We have seen!
17 PHE. The Lord has done that which he purposed; he has accomplished his word, [even] the things which he commanded from the ancient days: he has thrown down, and has not spared: and he has caused the enemy to rejoice over you, he has exalted the horn of him that afflicted you.
Yahweh hath done what he thought, hath carried out his word, wherewith he gave charge in the days of old, hath thrown down, and not spared, —Thus hath he let the enemy rejoice over thee, hath raised high the horn of thine adversaries.
18 TSADE. Their heart cried to the Lord, You walls of Sion, pour down tears like torrents day and night: give yourself no rest; let not the apple of your eyes cease.
Their heart, hath made outcry, unto My Lord, —O wall of the daughter of Zion—Let tears run down as a torrent day and night, Do not give thyself relief, Let not the weeping of thine eye cease!
19 KOPH. Arise, rejoice in the night at the beginning of your watch: pour out your heart as water before the face of the Lord; lift up your hands to him for the life of your infants, who faint for hunger at the top of all the streets.
Arise, cry out in the night, At the beginning of the watches, pour out, like waters, thy heart, right before the face of My Lord, —Lift up, above thee, the palms of thy hands, for the life of thy children, who are swooning for hunger, at the top of all the streets!
20 RHECHS. Behold, O Lord, and see for whom you has gathered thus. Shall the women eat the fruit of their womb? the cook has made a gathering: shall the infants sucking at the breasts be slain? will you kill the priest and prophet in the sanctuary of the Lord?
See, O Yahweh, and do consider, to whom thou hast acted thus severely, —Will women, devour, their own fruit—the children they have dandled? Shall priest and prophet, be slain in the sanctuary of My Lord?
21 CHSEN. The child and old man have lain down in the street: my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity: you have slain [them] with the sword and with famine; in the day of your wrath you have mangled [them], you has not spared.
Youth and elder, have lain down on the ground in the streets, My virgins and my young men, have fallen by the sword, —Thou hast slain, in the day of thine anger, Thou hast slaughtered, hast not spared!
22 THAU. He has called my sojourners round about to a solemn day, and there was not in the day of the wrath of the Lord any one that escaped or was left; whereas I have strengthened and multiplied all mine enemies.
Wilt thou proclaim, like the day of an appointed meeting—My terrors round about? when there was not—in the day of the anger of Yahweh—fugitive or survivor, —Those whom I dandled and reared, my foe hath destroyed.
