Lamentations 1

1How lonely sits the city that was once full of people! She has become like a widow, she who was great among the nations. She who was a princess among the provinces has become a forced laborer.

2She weeps bitterly in the night, with tears on her cheeks. Among all her lovers she has no one to comfort her. All her friends have betrayed her; they have become her enemies.

3Judah has gone into exile after affliction and harsh servitude. She lives among the nations but finds no resting place. All her pursuers have overtaken her in the midst of her distress.

4The roads to Zion mourn, for no one comes to the appointed festivals. All her gates are desolate; her priests groan; her young women grieve, and she herself is in bitter anguish.

5Her foes have become her masters; her enemies are at ease. For Yahweh has made her suffer because of her many transgressions. Her little children have gone away as captives before the foe.

6All her splendor has departed from the daughter of Zion. Her officials have become like deer that find no pasture; they have fled without strength before the pursuer.

7In the days of her affliction and wandering, Jerusalem remembers all the precious things that were hers in days of old. When her people fell into the hand of the foe and no one helped her, her foes looked at her and laughed at her ruin.

8Jerusalem has sinned greatly; therefore she has become an unclean thing. All who honored her despise her, for they have seen her nakedness. She herself groans and turns away.

9Her uncleanness clung to her skirts; she did not consider her future. Her fall was astonishing; she has no one to comfort her. Look, Yahweh, at my affliction, for the enemy has triumphed!

10The foe has stretched out his hand over all her precious things. She has seen the nations enter her sanctuary, those you commanded not to enter your assembly.

11All her people groan as they search for bread; they give their treasures for food to keep themselves alive. Look, Yahweh, and see, for I am despised.

12Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and see: is there any pain like the pain that was dealt to me, which Yahweh brought on me in the day of his fierce anger?

13From on high he sent fire into my bones, and it overcame them. He spread a net for my feet; he turned me back. He has left me desolate, faint all day long.

14My transgressions are bound into a yoke; by his hand they are woven together. They have come upon my neck; he has made my strength fail. The Lord has handed me over to those I cannot withstand.

15The Lord has rejected all the mighty men in my midst; he has summoned an assembly against me to crush my young men. The Lord has trodden the virgin daughter of Judah as in a winepress.

16For these things I weep; my eyes, my eyes flow with tears. For a comforter is far from me, anyone to restore my soul. My children are desolate, for the enemy has prevailed.

17Zion stretches out her hands, but there is no one to comfort her. Yahweh has commanded concerning Jacob that those around him should be his foes. Jerusalem has become an unclean thing among them.

18Yahweh is righteous, for I have rebelled against his word. Listen, all you peoples, and see my pain! My young women and my young men have gone into captivity.

19I called to my lovers, but they deceived me. My priests and my elders perished in the city while they searched for food to keep themselves alive.

20Look, Yahweh, for I am in distress! My stomach churns; my heart is turned over within me, for I have been very rebellious. Outside, the sword bereaves; inside, there is death.

21People have heard how I groan, with no one to comfort me. All my enemies have heard of my trouble; they rejoice that you have done it. Bring the day you have announced, and let them become like me.

22Let all their evil come before you; deal with them as you have dealt with me because of all my transgressions. For my groans are many, and my heart is faint.