Lamentations 2

1 How has the LORD covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and remembered not his footstool in the day of his anger!

Oh how hath the Lord covered in his anger the daughter of Zion with a cloud; he hath cast down from heaven unto the earth the ornament of Israel; and he hath not remembered his footstool on the day of his anger!

2 The LORD has swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and has not pitied: he has thrown down in his wrath the strong holds of the daughter of Judah; he has brought them down to the ground: he has polluted the kingdom and the princes thereof.

The Lord hath destroyed and hath not pitied all the habitation of Jacob: he hath thrown down in his wrath the strong-holds of the daughter of Judah: he hath thrown them down to the ground; he hath defiled the kingdom and its princes.

3 He has cut off in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel: he has drawn back his right hand from before the enemy, and he burned against Jacob like a flaming fire, which devours round about.

He hath hewn away in his fierce anger the whole horn of Israel; he hath drawn back his right hand before the enemy; and he burnt against Jacob like a flaming fire, which devoureth round about.

4 He has bent his bow like an enemy: he stood with his right hand as an adversary, and slew all that were pleasant to the eye in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion: he poured out his fury like fire.

He bent his bow like an enemy; he held out his right hand as an adversary, and slew all that were pleasant to the eye: in the tent of the daughter of Zion did he pour out like fire his fury.

5 The LORD was as an enemy: he has swallowed up Israel, he has swallowed up all her palaces: he has destroyed his strong holds, and has increased in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation.

The Lord became like an enemy; he destroyed Israel, he destroyed all her palaces, he ruined her strong-holds, and he increased in the midst of the daughter of Judah groaning and wailing.

6 And he has violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were of a garden: he has destroyed his places of the assembly: the LORD has caused the solemn feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion, and has despised in the indignation of his anger the king and the priest.

And he violently wasted, as if it were a garden, his tabernacle; he destroyed his place of assembly: [yea, ] the Lord hath caused to be forgotten in Zion the solemn feast and the day of rest, and hath despised in the indignation of his anger both king and priest.

7 The LORD has cast off his altar, he has abhorred his sanctuary, he has given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; they have made a noise in the house of the LORD, as in the day of a solemn feast.

The Lord hath cast off his altar, he hath made void his sanctuary, he hath surrendered into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces: they have made their voice to resound in the house of the Lord, as on a day of a solemn feast.

8 The LORD has purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion: he has stretched out a line, he has not withdrawn his hand from destroying: therefore he made the rampart and the wall to lament; they languished together.

The Lord hath resolved to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion; he stretched out the measuring-line, he withdrew not his hand from destroying: and he caused the rampart and the wall to mourn; together they languish.

9 Her gates are sunk into the ground; he has destroyed and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no more; her prophets also find no vision from the LORD.

Sunk into the ground are her gates, he hath ruined and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the nations without any law; her prophets also obtain no more any vision from the Lord.

10 The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground, and keep silence: they have cast up dust upon their heads; they have girded themselves with sackcloth: the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.

The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground, they keep silence: they have thrown dust upon their head; they have girt themselves with sackcloth: the virgins of Jerusalem have brought down low their head to the ground.

11 Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, my liver is poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people; because the children and the infants swoon in the streets of the city.

My eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are heated, my liver is poured upon the earth because of the breach of the daughter of my people; because babes and sucklings faint away in the streets of the town.

12 They say to their mothers, Where is corn and wine? when they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul was poured out into their mothers' bosom.

To their mothers they say, Where is corn and wine? when they faint away like the deadly wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul is poured out on the bosom of their mother.

13 What thing shall I take to witness for you? what thing shall I liken to you, O daughter of Jerusalem? what shall I equal to you, that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? for your breach is great like the sea: who can heal you?

What shall I take to witness for thee? what shall I compare unto thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? what shall I find equal to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? for great like the sea is thy breach; who can bring healing to thee?

14 Your prophets have seen vain and foolish things for you: and they have not discovered your iniquity, to turn away your captivity; but have seen for you false burdens and causes of banishment.

Thy prophets foresaw for thee vain and deceptive things; and they did not lay open thy iniquity, to cause thy backsliders to return: but they foresaw for thee prophecies of falsehood and seduction.

15 All that pass by clap their hands at you; they hiss and shake their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men call The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth?

All that pass by [this] way clap their hands on account of thee; they hiss and shake their head over the daughter of Jerusalem: [saying, ] Is this the city that men called The perfection of beauty. The joy for all the earth?

16 all of your enemies have opened their mouth against you: they hiss and gnash the teeth: they say, We have swallowed her up: certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen it.

All thy enemies open wide their mouth against thee; they hiss and gnash their teeth; they say, We have swallowed her up: ah, truly this is the day that we hoped for; we have found, we have seen it.

17 The LORD has done that which he had devised; he has fulfilled his word that he had commanded in the days of old: he has thrown down, and has not pitied: and he has caused your enemy to rejoice over you, he has set up the horn of your adversaries.

The Lord hath done what he had resolved; he hath accomplished his word which he had ordained already in the days of old; he hath thrown down, and hath not pitied; and he hath caused to rejoice over thee thy enemy, he hath raised on high the horn of thy adversaries.

18 Their heart cried unto the LORD, O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night: give yourself no rest; let not the apple of your eye cease.

Their heart crieth unto the Lord, O thou wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a stream day and night; allow thyself no rest; let not the apple of thy eye be still.

19 Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the watches pour out your heart like water before the face of the LORD: lift up your hands toward him for the life of your young children, that faint for hunger in the top of every street.

Arise, complain aloud in the night, in the beginning of the watches; pour out like water thy heart before the face of the Lord: lift up toward him thy hands because of the life of thy babes, that faint away for hunger at the corner of all the streets.

20 Behold, O LORD, and consider to whom you have done this. Shall the women eat their fruit, and children of a span long? shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?

See, O Lord, and behold! to whom hast thou ever done the like? Shall women, then, eat their own fruit, the babes they have tenderly nursed? or shall there be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord the priest and the prophet?

21 The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets: my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword; you have slain them in the day of your anger; you have killed, and not pitied.

There lie down on the ground in the streets the lad and the ancient: my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword: thou hast slain on the day of thy anger; thou hast slaughtered, thou hast not pitied.

22 You have called as in a solemn day my terrors round about, so that in the day of the LORD's anger none escaped nor remained: those that I have swaddled and brought up has mine enemy consumed.

Thou hast called, as it were on a festive day, my evil neighbors from round about; and there was not on the day of the Lord's anger one that escaped or remained: those that I had tenderly nursed and reared up my enemy brought to their end.