Lamentationes 2
1 ALEPH. Quomodo obtexit caligine in furore suo Dominus filiam Sion: proiecit de caelo in terram inclytam Israel, et non est recordatus scabelli pedum suorum in die furoris sui.
How has the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger! He has cast the beauty of Israel down from heaven to the earth, and hasn’t remembered his footstool in the day of his anger.
2 BETH. Praecipitavit Dominus, nec pepercit, omnia speciosa Iacob: destruxit in furore suo munitiones virginis Iuda, et deiecit in terram: polluit regnum, et principes eius.
The Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob without pity. He has thrown down in his wrath the strongholds of the daughter of Judah. He has brought them down to the ground. He has profaned the kingdom and its princes.
3 GHIMEL. Confregit in ira furoris sui omne cornu Israel: avertit retrorsum dexteram suam a facie inimici: et succendit in Iacob quasi ignem flammae devorantis in gyro:
He has cut off all the horn of Israel in fierce anger. He has drawn back his right hand from before the enemy. He has burnt up Jacob like a flaming fire, which devours all around.
4 DALETH. Tetendit arcum suum quasi inimicus, firmavit dexteram suam quasi hostis: et occidit omne, quod pulchrum erat visu in tabernaculo filiae Sion, effudit quasi ignem indignationem suam.
He has bent his bow like an enemy. He has stood with his right hand as an adversary. He has killed all that were pleasant to the eye. In the tent of the daughter of Zion, he has poured out his wrath like fire.
5 HE. Factus est Dominus velut inimicus: praecipitavit Israel, praecipitavit omnia moenia eius: dissipavit munitiones eius, et replevit in filia Iuda humiliatum et humiliatam.
The Lord has become as an enemy. He has swallowed up Israel. He has swallowed up all her palaces. He has destroyed his strongholds. He has multiplied mourning and lamentation in the daughter of Judah.
6 VAU. Et dissipavit quasi hortum tentorium suum, demolitus est tabernaculum suum: oblivioni tradidit Dominus in Sion festivitatem, et sabbatum: et in opprobrium, et in indignationem furoris sui regem, et sacerdotem.
He has violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were a garden. He has destroyed his place of assembly. The LORD has caused solemn assembly and Sabbath to be forgotten in Zion. In the indignation of his anger, he has despised the king and the priest.
7 ZAIN. Repulit Dominus altare suum, maledixit sanctificationi suae: tradidit in manu inimici muros turrium eius: vocem dederunt in domo Domini, sicut in die sollemni.
The Lord has cast off his altar. He has abhorred his sanctuary. He has given the walls of her palaces into the hand of the enemy. They have made a noise in the LORD’s house, as in the day of a solemn assembly.
8 HETH. Cogitavit Dominus dissipare murum filiae Sion: tetendit funiculum suum, et non avertit manum suam a perditione: luxitque antemurale, et murus pariter dissipatus est.
The LORD has purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion. He has stretched out the line. He has not withdrawn his hand from destroying; He has made the rampart and wall lament. They languish together.
9 TETH. Defixae sunt in terra portae eius: perdidit, et contrivit vectes eius: regem eius et principes eius in Gentibus: non est lex, et prophetae eius non invenerunt visionem a Domino.
Her gates have sunk into the ground. He has destroyed and broken her bars. Her king and her princes are amongst the nations where the law is not. Yes, her prophets find no vision from the LORD.
10 IOD. Sederunt in terra, conticuerunt senes filiae Sion: consperserunt cinere capita sua, accincti sunt ciliciis, abiecerunt in terram capita sua virgines Ierusalem.
The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground. They keep silence. They have cast up dust on their heads. They have clothed themselves with sackcloth. The virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.
11 CAPH. Defecerunt prae lacrymis oculi mei, conturbata sunt viscera mea: effusum est in terra iecur meum super contritione filiae populi mei, cum deficeret parvulus, et lactens in plateis oppidi.
My eyes fail with tears. My heart is troubled. My bile is poured on the earth, because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because the young children and the infants swoon in the streets of the city.
12 LAMED. Matribus suis dixerunt: Ubi est triticum et vinum? cum deficerent quasi vulnerati in plateis civitatis: cum exhalarent animas suas in sinu matrum suarum.
They ask their mothers, “Where is grain and wine?” when they swoon as the wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul is poured out into their mothers’ bosom.
13 MEM. Cui comparabo te? vel cui assimilabo te filia Ierusalem? cui exaequabo te, et consolabor te virgo filia Sion? magna est enim velut mare contritio tua: quis medebitur tui?
What shall I testify to you? What shall I liken to you, daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I compare to you, that I may comfort you, virgin daughter of Zion? For your breach is as big as the sea. Who can heal you?
14 NUN. Prophetae tui viderunt tibi falsa, et stulta, nec aperiebant iniquitatem tuam, ut te ad poenitentiam provocarent: viderunt autem tibi assumptiones falsas, et eiectiones.
Your prophets have seen false and foolish visions for you. They have not uncovered your iniquity, to reverse your captivity, but have seen for you false revelations and causes of banishment.
15 SAMECH. Plauserunt super te manibus omnes transeuntes per viam: sibilaverunt, et moverunt caput suum super filiam Ierusalem: Haeccine est urbs, dicentes, perfecti decoris, gaudium universae terrae?
All that pass by clap their hands at you. They hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, “Is this the city that men called ‘The perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth’?”
16 PHE. Aperuerunt super te os suum omnes inimici tui: sibilaverunt, et fremuerunt dentibus, et dixerunt: Devorabimus: en ista est dies, quam expectabamus: invenimus, vidimus.
All your enemies have opened their mouth wide against you. They hiss and gnash their teeth. They say, “We have swallowed her up. Certainly this is the day that we looked for. We have found it. We have seen it.”
17 AIN. Fecit Dominus quae cogitavit, complevit sermonem suum, quem praeceperat a diebus antiquis: destruxit, et non pepercit, et laetificavit super te inimicum, et exaltavit cornu hostium tuorum.
The LORD has done that which he planned. He has fulfilled his word that he commanded in the days of old. He has thrown down, and has not pitied. He has caused the enemy to rejoice over you. He has exalted the horn of your adversaries.
18 SADE. Clamavit cor eorum ad Dominum super muros filiae Sion: Deduc quasi torrentem lacrymas per diem, et noctem: non des requiem tibi neque taceat pupilla oculi tui.
Their heart cried to the Lord. O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night. Give yourself no relief. Don’t let your eyes rest.
19 COPH. Consurge, lauda in nocte in principio vigiliarum: effunde sicut aquam cor tuum ante conspectum Domini: leva ad eum manus tuas pro anima parvulorum tuorum, qui defecerunt in fame in capite omnium compitorum.
Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches! Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord. Lift up your hands towards him for the life of your young children, who faint for hunger at the head of every street.
20 RES. Vide Domine, et considera quem vindemiaveris ita: ergone comedent mulieres fructum suum, parvulos ad mensuram palmae? si occiditur in sanctuario Domini sacerdos, et propheta?
“Look, LORD, and see to whom you have done thus! Should the women eat their offspring, the children that they held and bounced on their knees? Should the priest and the prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?
21 SIN. Iacuerunt in terra foris puer, et senex: virgines meae, et iuvenes mei ceciderunt in gladio: interfecisti in die furoris tui: percussisti, nec misertus es.
“The youth and the old man lie on the ground in the streets. My virgins and my young men have fallen by the sword. You have killed them in the day of your anger. You have slaughtered, and not pitied.
22 THAU. Vocasti quasi ad diem sollemnem, qui terrerent me de circuitu, et non fuit in die furoris Domini qui effugeret, et relinqueretur: quos educavi, et enutrivi, inimicus meus consumpsit eos.
“You have called, as in the day of a solemn assembly, my terrors on every side. There was no one that escaped or remained in the day of the LORD’s anger. My enemy has consumed those whom I have cared for and brought up.
