Lamentations 2

1 [ALEPH-BET] How the Lord clouds in His anger the daughter of Zion, He has cast from the heavens [to] earth the beauty of Israel, And has not remembered His footstool in the day of His anger.

How hath the Lord covered with a cloud the daughter of Zion in His anger! He hath cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and hath not remembered His footstool in the day of His anger.

2 The Lord has swallowed up, He has not pitied any of the pleasant places of Jacob, He has broken down in His wrath The fortresses of the daughter of Judah, He has caused to come to the earth, He defiled the kingdom and its princes.

The Lord hath swallowed up unsparingly all the habitations of Jacob; He hath thrown down in His wrath the strongholds of the daughter of Judah; He hath brought them down to the ground; He hath profaned the kingdom and the princes thereof.

3 He has cut off in the heat of anger every horn of Israel, He has turned backward His right hand From the face of the enemy, And He burns against Jacob as a flaming fire, It has devoured all around.

He hath cut off in fierce anger all the horn of Israel; He hath drawn back His right hand from before the enemy; and He hath burned in Jacob like a flaming fire, which devoureth round about.

4 He has bent His bow as an enemy, His right hand has stood as an adversary, And He slays all the desirable ones of the eye, In the tent of the daughter of Zion, He has poured out as fire His fury.

He hath bent His bow like an enemy, standing with His right hand as an adversary, and hath slain all that were pleasant to the eye; in the tent of the daughter of Zion He hath poured out His fury like fire.

5 The Lord has been as an enemy, He has swallowed up Israel, He has swallowed up all her palaces, He has destroyed His fortresses, And He multiplies in the daughter of Judah Mourning and moaning.

The Lord is become as an enemy, He hath swallowed up Israel; He hath swallowed up all her palaces, He hath destroyed his strongholds; and He hath multiplied in the daughter of Judah mourning and moaning.

6 And He shakes as a garden His dwelling place, He has destroyed His appointed place, YHWH has forgotten in Zion the appointed time and Sabbath, And despises, in the indignation of His anger, king and priest.

And He hath stripped His tabernacle, as if it were a garden, He hath destroyed His place of assembly; the LORD hath caused to be forgotten in Zion appointed season and sabbath, and hath rejected in the indignation of His anger the king and the priest.

7 The Lord has cast off His altar, He has rejected His sanctuary, He has shut up into the hand of the enemy The walls of her palaces, A noise they have made in the house of YHWH Like a day of appointment.

The Lord hath cast off His altar, He hath abhorred His sanctuary, He hath 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 assembly.

8 YHWH has devised to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion, He has stretched out a line, He has not turned His hand from destroying, And He causes bulwark and wall to mourn, Together—they have been weak.

The LORD hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion; He hath stretched out the line, He hath not withdrawn His hand from destroying; but He hath made the rampart and wall to mourn, they languish together.

9 Sunk into the earth have her gates, He has destroyed and broken her bars, Her king and her princes [are] among the nations, There is no law, also her prophets Have not found vision from YHWH.

Her gates are sunk into the ground; He hath destroyed and broken her bars; her king and her princes are among the nations, instruction is no more; yea, her prophets find no vision from the LORD.

10 Sit on the earth—[the] elderly of Zion’s daughter keep silent, They have caused dust to go up on their head, They have girded on sackcloth, The virgins of Jerusalem have Put their head down to the earth.

They sit upon the ground, and keep silence, the elders of the daughter of Zion; 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.

11 My eyes have been consumed by tears, My bowels have been troubled, My liver has been poured out to the earth, For the breach of the daughter of my people; In infant and suckling being feeble, In the broad places of the city,

Mine eyes do fail with tears, mine inwards burn, my liver is poured upon the earth, for the breach of the daughter of my people; because the young children and the sucklings swoon in the broad places of the city.

12 To their mothers they say, “Where [are] grain and wine?” In their becoming feeble as a pierced one In the broad places of the city, In their soul pouring itself out into the bosom of their mothers.

They say to their mothers: 'Where is corn and wine?' when they swoon as the wounded in the broad places of the city, when their soul is poured out into their mothers' bosom.

13 What do I testify [to] you, what do I liken to you, O daughter of Jerusalem? What do I equal to you, and I comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For great as a sea [is] your breach, Who gives healing to you?

What shall I take to witness for thee? What shall I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I equal to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? For thy breach is great like the sea; who can heal thee?

14 Your prophets have seen for you a false and insipid thing, And have not revealed concerning your iniquity, To return your captivity, And they see for you false burdens and causes of expulsion.

Thy prophets have seen visions for thee of vanity and delusion; and they have not uncovered thine iniquity, to bring back thy captivity; but have prophesied for thee burdens of vanity and seduction.

15 Everyone passing by the way clapped hands at you, They have hissed—and they shake the head At the daughter of Jerusalem: “Is this the city of which they said: The perfection of beauty, a joy to all the land?”

All that pass by clap their hands at thee; they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem: 'Is this the city that men called the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth?'

16 Opened against you their mouth have all your enemies, They have hissed, indeed, they gnash the teeth, They have said: “We have swallowed [her] up, Surely this [is] the day that we looked for, We have found—we have seen.”

All thine enemies have opened their mouth wide against thee; 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.'

17 YHWH has done that which He devised, He has fulfilled His saying That He commanded from the days of old, He has broken down and has not pitied, And causes an enemy to rejoice over you, He lifted up the horn of your adversaries.

The LORD hath done that which He devised; He hath performed His word that He commanded in the days of old; He hath thrown down unsparingly; and He hath caused the enemy to rejoice over thee, He hath exalted the horn of thine adversaries.

18 Their heart has cried to the Lord; O wall of the daughter of Zion, Cause to go down tears as a stream daily and nightly, do not give rest to yourself, Do not let the daughter of your eye stand still.

Their heart cried unto the Lord: 'O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night; give thyself no respite; let not the apple of thine eye cease.

19 Arise, cry aloud in the night, At the beginning of the watches. Pour out your heart as water, Before the face of the Lord, Lift up to Him your hands, for the soul of your infants, Who are feeble with hunger at the head of all out-places.

Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches; pour out thy heart like water before the face of the Lord; lift up thy hands toward Him for the life of thy young children, that faint for hunger at the head of every street.'

20 See, O YHWH, and look attentively, To whom You have acted thus, Do women eat their fruit, infants of a handbreadth? Slain in the sanctuary of the Lord are priest and prophet?

'See, O LORD, and consider, to whom Thou hast done thus! Shall the women eat their fruit, the children that are dandled in the hands? Shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?

21 Lain on the earth [in] out-places have young and old, My virgins and my young men have fallen by the sword, You have slain in a day of Your anger, You have slaughtered—You have not pitied.

The youth and the old man lie on the ground in the streets; my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword; Thou hast slain them in the day of Thine anger; Thou hast slaughtered unsparingly.

22 You call as [at] a day of appointment, My fears from all around, And there has not been in the day of the anger of YHWH, An escaped and remaining one, They whom I stretched out and nourished, My enemy has consumed!

Thou hast called, as in the day of a solemn assembly, my terrors on every side, and there was none in the day of the LORD'S anger that escaped or remained; those that I have dandled and brought up hath mine enemy consumed.'