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].
How doth the Lord cloud in His anger the daughter of Zion, He hath cast from heaven [to] earth the beauty of Israel, And hath not remembered His footstool in the day of His anger.
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.
Swallowed up hath the Lord, He hath not pitied any of the pleasant places of Jacob, He hath broken down in His wrath The fortresses of the daughter of Judah, He hath caused to come to the earth, He polluted the kingdom and its 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.
He hath cut off in the heat of anger every horn of Israel, He hath turned backward His right hand From the face of the enemy, And He burneth against Jacob as a flaming fire, It hath devoured 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.
He hath trodden His bow as an enemy, Stood hath His right hand as an adversary, And He slayeth all the desirable ones of the eye, In the tent of the daughter of Zion, He hath poured out as fire His fury.
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].
The Lord hath been as an enemy, He hath swallowed up Israel, He hath swallowed up all her palaces, He hath destroyed His fortresses, And He multiplieth in the daughter of Judah Mourning and moaning.
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.
And He shaketh as a garden His tabernacle, He hath destroyed His appointed place, Jehovah hath forgotten in Zion the appointed time and sabbath, And despiseth, in the indignation of His anger, king and priest.
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.
The Lord hath cast off His altar, He hath rejected His sanctuary, He hath shut up into the hand of the enemy The walls of her palaces, A noise they have made in the house of Jehovah Like a day of appointment.
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].
Devised hath Jehovah to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion, He hath stretched out a line, He hath not turned His hand from destroying, And He causeth bulwark and wall to mourn, Together — they have been weak.
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.
Sunk into the earth have her gates, He hath 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 Jehovah.
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.
Sit on the earth — keep silent do the elders of the daughter of Zion, They have caused dust to go up on their head, They have girded on sackcloth, Put down to the earth their head have the virgins of 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].
Consumed by tears have been my eyes, Troubled have been my bowels, Poured out to the earth hath been my liver, For the breach of the daughter of my people; In infant and suckling being feeble, In the broad places 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.
To their mothers they say, 'Where [are] corn 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.
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].
What do I testify [to] thee, what do I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? What do I equal to thee, and I comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? For great as a sea [is] thy breach, Who doth give healing to thee?
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.
Thy prophets have seen for thee a false and insipid thing, And have not revealed concerning thine iniquity, To turn back thy captivity, And they see for thee false burdens and causes of expulsion.
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?”
Clapped hands at thee have all passing by the way, 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?'
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!”
Opened against thee their mouth have all thine enemies, They have hissed, yea, 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.'
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.
Jehovah hath done that which He devised, He hath fulfilled His saying That He commanded from the days of old, He hath broken down and hath not pitied, And causeth an enemy to rejoice over thee, He lifted up the horn of thine adversaries.
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.
Cried hath their heart unto the Lord; O wall of the daughter of Zion, Cause to go down as a stream tears daily and nightly, Give not rest to thyself, Let not the daughter of thine eye stand still.
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.
Arise, cry aloud in the night, At the beginning of the watches. Pour out as water thy heart, Over against the face of the Lord, Lift up unto Him thy hands, for the soul of thine infants, Who are feeble with hunger at the head of all out-places.
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!
See, O Jehovah, and look attentively, To whom Thou hast acted thus, Do women eat their fruit, infants of a handbreadth? Slain in the sanctuary of the Lord are priest and prophet?
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].
Lain on the earth [in] out-places have young and old, My virgins and my young men have fallen by the sword, Thou hast slain in a day of Thine anger, Thou hast slaughtered — Thou hast not pitied.
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.
Thou dost call as [at] a day of appointment, My fears from round about, And there hath not been in the day of the anger of Jehovah, An escaped and remaining one, They whom I stretched out and nourished, My enemy hath consumed!
