Lamentations 2
1 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!
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 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.
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 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.
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 He has withdrawn his right hand from before the enemy.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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 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?
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 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.
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 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?
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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 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?
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 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.
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 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.
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.
