Lamentations 2

1 ALEPH. O how the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion with gloom in his fury! O how he has thrown down from heaven to earth the famous one of Israel, and he has not remembered his footstool in the day of his fury.

The Lord has covered the daughter of Zion under the cloud of his anger. He has thrown the splendor of Israel down from heaven to earth. He has not remembered his footstool on the day of his anger.

2 BETH. The Lord has cast down, and he has not been lenient, with all the beauties of Jacob. In his fury, he has destroyed the fortifications of the virgin of Judah, and he has thrown them down to the ground. He has polluted the kingdom and its leaders.

The Lord has swallowed up and has had no compassion on all the towns of Jacob. In the days of his anger he has thrown down the fortified cities of the daughter of Judah; in dishonor he has brought down to the ground the kingdom and its rulers.

3 GHIMEL. In the anger of his fury, he has broken the entire horn of Israel. He has drawn back his right hand before the face of the enemy. And he has kindled within Jacob a flaming fire, devouring all around.

With fierce anger he has cut off every horn of Israel. He has withdrawn his right hand from before the enemy. He has burned up Jacob like a blazing fire that devours everything around it.

4 DALETH. He has bent his bow like an enemy. He has fixed his right hand like an adversary. And he has cut down all that was beautiful to behold in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion. He has poured out his indignation like fire.

Like an enemy he has bent his bow toward us, with his right is ready to shoot. He has slaughtered all who had been so pleasing to him in the tent of the daughter of Zion; he has poured out his wrath like fire.

5 HE. The Lord has become like an enemy. He has thrown down Israel. He has thrown down all of his defenses. He has torn apart his fortifications. And he has filled the daughter of Judah with humbled men and humbled women.

The Lord has become like an enemy. He has swallowed up Israel. He has swallowed up all her palaces. He has destroyed her strongholds. He has increased mourning and lamentation within the daughter of Judah.

6 VAU. And he has torn apart her tent like a garden. He has demolished her tabernacle. In Zion, the Lord has delivered feast and Sabbath into oblivion, and king and priest into disgrace, and into the indignation of his fury.

He has attacked his tabernacle like a garden hut. He has destroyed the place of the solemn assembly. Yahweh has caused both solemn assembly and Sabbath to be forgotten in Zion, for he has despised both king and priest in the indignation of his anger.

7 ZAIN. The Lord has pushed away his own altar. He has cursed his own sanctuary. He has delivered the walls of its towers into the hand of the enemy. They have made a noise in the house of the Lord, as if on the day of a solemnity.

The Lord has rejected his altar and disowned his sanctuary. He has given over the walls of her palaces into the hand of the enemy. They have raised a shout in the house of Yahweh, as on the day of an appointed feast.

8 HETH. The Lord has decided to tear down the wall of the daughter of Zion. He has stretched out his measuring line, and he has not turned away his hand from perdition. And the rampart has mourned, and with the wall it has been torn apart.

Yahweh decided to destroy the city wall of the daughter of Zion. He has stretched out the measuring line and has not withheld his hand from destroying the wall. He has made the ramparts and wall to lament; together they wasted away.

9 TETH. Her gates have been buried in the ground. He has ruined and crushed its bars. Her king and her princes are with the Gentiles. There is no law, and her prophets have found no vision from the Lord.

Her gates have sunk into the ground; he has destroyed and broken the bars of her gate. Her king and her princes are among the nations, the law is no more and her prophets find no vision from Yahweh.

10 JOD. The elders of the daughter of Zion have become idle; they sit on the ground. They have sprinkled their heads with ashes. They have been wrapped with haircloth. The virgins of Jerusalem have cast their heads down to the ground.

The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground in silence. They have thrown dust on their heads and put on sackcloth. The virgins of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground.

11 CAPH. My eyes have exhausted their tears. My internal organs have become disturbed. My liver has been poured out on the earth, over the grief of the daughter of my people, when the little ones and the infants passed away in the streets of the town.

My eyes have failed from their tears; my stomach churns; my inner parts are poured out to the ground because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, children and infants faint in the streets of the city.

12 LAMED. They said to their mothers, “Where is the wheat and the wine?” when they fell like the wounded in the streets of the city, when they breathed out their lives into the bosoms of their mothers.

They say to their mothers, “Where is grain and wine?” as they faint like a wounded man in the streets of the city, their lives are poured out on the bosom of their mothers.

13 MEM. To what shall I compare you, or to what shall I liken you, O daughter of Jerusalem? To what shall I equate you, so as to console you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For your destruction is as great as the sea. Who will cure you?

What can I say to you, daughter of Jerusalem? To what can I compare to you, that I may comfort you, virgin daughter of Zion? Your wound is as great as the sea. Who can heal you?

14 NUN. Your prophets have seen false and foolish things for you. And they have not laid open your iniquity, so as to provoke you to repentance. Yet they have seen for you false revelations and banishments.

Your prophets have seen false and worthless visions for you. They have not exposed your iniquity to restore your fortunes, but for you they gave utterances that are false and misleading.

15 SAMECH. All those who passed by the way have clapped their hands over you. They have hissed and shook their heads over the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, “Is this the city of perfect dignity, the joy of all the earth?”

All those who pass along the road clap their hands at you. They hiss and shake their heads against the daughter of Jerusalem and say, “Is this the city that they called 'The Perfection of Beauty,' 'The Joy for All of Earth'?”

16 PHE. All your enemies have opened their mouth over you. They have hissed and gnashed their teeth, and they said: “We will devour her. Yes, this is the day we waited for. We have found it, we have seen it.”

All your enemies open their mouths against you. They sneer and grind their teeth in rage and say, “We have swallowed her up! This is the day we have waited for! We have lived to see it!”

17 AIN. The Lord has done what he decided to do. He has fulfilled his word, which he instructed since the days of antiquity. He has destroyed, and he has not been lenient, and he has caused the enemy to rejoice over you, and he has exalted the horn of your adversaries.

Yahweh has done what he planned to do. He has fulfilled his word. He has overthrown you without pity, for he has permitted the enemy to rejoice over you; he has lifted up the horn of your enemies.

18 SADE. Their heart cried out to the Lord from the walls of the daughter of Zion. Let tears run down like a torrent throughout the day and the night. Do not give rest to yourself, and do not allow the pupil of your eye to cease.

Their heart cried out to the Lord, walls of the daughter of Zion! Make your tears flow down like a river day and night. Give yourself no relief, your eyes no relief.

19 COPH. Rise up. Give praise in the night, in the first of the watches. Pour out your heart like water before the sight of the Lord. Lift up your hands to him on behalf of the souls of your little ones, who have passed away from famine at the head of all the crossroads.

Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the night watches! Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord. Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your children who faint with hunger at the corner of every street.”

20 RES. O Lord, see and consider those whom you have made into such a vintage. So then, shall women eat their own fruit, little ones measured by the palm of the hand? Shall priest and prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?

See, Yahweh, and consider those you have dealt in this way. Should women eat the fruit of their wombs, the children whom they have cared for? Should priest and prophet be slaughtered in the sanctuary of the Lord?

21 SIN. The boy and the old man lie down on the ground outside. My virgins and my youths have fallen by the sword. You have slain them in the day of your fury. You have struck down, and you have not shown pity.

Both the young and the old lie on the dust of the streets. My young women and my young men have fallen by the sword; you have slaughtered them without taking pity on them.

22 THAU. You have called, as if to a day of solemnity, those who would terrify me all around. And there was no one, in the day of the fury of the Lord, who escaped or was left behind. Those whom I educated and nourished, my enemy has consumed.

You have summoned, as you would call the people to a feast day, my terrors on every side, on the day of the anger of Yahweh no one escaped or survived; those I cared for and raised, my enemy has destroyed.