Lamentations 2
1 Yahweh was extremely angry [with us]; as a result, [it was as though] [MET] he covered Jerusalem with a dark cloud. Previously it was a beautiful/glorious city, but he has caused it to become a ruins. At the time he punished [MET] Israel, he [even] abandoned his temple [MET] [in Jerusalem].
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.
2 Yahweh destroyed the homes of [the people of] [PRS] Judah; he did not act mercifully. Because he was very angry, he broke down the fortresses of Judah. He has caused our kingdom and our rulers to become disgraced, and he has gotten rid of them.
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.
3 Because he was extremely angry, he has caused Israel to not be powerful [MET] any more. He has refused to assist us when our enemies attacked us. He has destroyed Israel like [SIM] a raging fire destroys everything.
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.
4 He bent his bow [to prepare to shoot us, his people], as though we were his enemies. He [prepared to] kill the people whom we love the most [MET], members of our own families. He is extremely angry [MTY] with us people of Jerusalem; his anger is like [SIM] a fire.
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.
5 Yahweh has become like an enemy to [us] Israelis; he has destroyed our palaces and caused our fortresses to become ruins. He has gotten rid of many people in Jerusalem, and caused us to mourn and weep [for those who were killed].
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.
6 He has caused his temple to be smashed [as easily] as [SIM] if it was a shelter in a garden. He has caused [us, his people], to forget all our sacred festivals and Sabbath days. He has caused [our] kings and priests to be rejected because he was extremely angry with them.
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.
7 Yahweh has rejected his own altar and abandoned his temple. He has allowed [our] enemies to tear down the walls of [our temple and] our palaces. They shout [victoriously] in the temple of Yahweh, like we [previously shouted] during our sacred festivals.
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.
8 Yahweh was determined to cause the walls of our city [MTY] to be torn down. [It was as though] he measured the walls and [then he completely] destroyed [MTY] them. [It was as though] he caused the towers and walls to lament/weep, [because they were now ruins].
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.
9 The city gates have collapsed; the bars that fastened the gates shut have been smashed. The king and his officials have [been forced to] go to other countries. No longer does anyone teach the people the laws [that God gave to Moses]. The prophets do not receive any visions [because] Yahweh does not give them any.
TETH. Her gates are sunk into the ground: he has destroyed and broken to pieces her bars, [and] her king and her prince among the Gentiles: there is no law, nay, her prophets have seen no vision from the Lord.
10 The old men of Jerusalem [MTY] sit on the ground, and they say nothing. They wear rough sackcloth and throw dust on their heads [to show that they are sad]. The young girls of Jerusalem bow down [sorrowfully], their faces touching the ground.
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.
11 My eyes are very tired because of my tears; I am very grieved in my soul. Because [very many of] my people have been killed, I grieve and am exhausted. [Even] children and babies are fainting [and dying] in the streets [because they have no food].
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.
12 They cry out to their mothers, “We need [RHQ] something to eat and drink!” They faint like wounded men in the streets of the city. They slowly die in the arms of their mothers.
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.
13 You people of Jerusalem [MTY, DOU], (what can I/there is nothing that I can) say [to help you]. No people have [RHQ] suffered like you are suffering; I do not know what I can do to comfort you. The disaster [MET] that you have experienced is as great as the ocean is deep; there is no one [RHQ] who can restore your [city].
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?
14 The prophets among you claimed that they had seen visions [from Yahweh], but what they said was false and worthless. They did not save you from being (exiled/forced to go to other countries), because they did not proclaim that you had sinned. Instead, the messages that they gave you deceived you [because] they were not true.
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.
15 All those who pass by you make fun of [IDM] you; they shake their heads and they hiss/sneer at you. [They say], “Is this that great city of Jerusalem? Is it the city that was the most beautiful city in the world, the city that caused all [the people on] the earth to be joyful?”
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?
16 [Now] all our enemies scoff [IDM] at you; they hiss/sneer [at you] and gnash their teeth [to show that they hate you]. They say, “We have destroyed them! This is what we longed/waited for, and now it has happened!”
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.
17 Yahweh has done what he planned; long ago he threatened to destroy you, and [now] he has done it. He has destroyed [your city] without acting mercifully [toward you]; he has enabled your enemies to he happy about defeating you; he has enabled your enemies to [continually] become stronger.
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.
18 I wish/desire that the walls of Jerusalem [APO] would cry out to Yahweh! You people of Jerusalem [MET], Cry day and night! Let your tears flow like rivers. Do not stop grieving; do not stop crying.
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.
19 Get up [every] night and cry out; tell Yahweh what you are feeling. Raise your arms to plead to him to act mercifully to prevent our children from dying; they are fainting on the street corners because they have no food to eat.
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.
20 Yahweh, look, and think [about it]! Have you ever [RHQ] caused people to suffer like this before? [It is certainly not right that] [RHQ] women are eating the flesh of their own children, the children whom they have always taken care of! [It is not right that] [RHQ] priests and prophets are being killed in your own temple!
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?
21 [The corpses of] people of all ages lie in the streets; [there are even corpses of] young men and young women who have been killed by [our enemies’] swords. Because you were very angry, you caused them to be killed; you have slaughtered them without pitying them [at all].
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.
22 You summoned our enemies to attack us from every direction, as though you were calling/inviting them to come to a feast. At that time when [you showed that] you were very angry, no one escaped. Our enemies murdered [our little children, ] ones whom we took care of and reared/brought up.
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.
