The Sorrows of Jerusalem

¹How lonely sits the city

that was full of people!

How she has become like a widow,

who was once great among the nations!

She who was a princess among the provinces

has become a slave!

²She weeps sorely in the night,

her tears are on her cheeks;

among all her lovers

she has none to comfort her.

All her friends have dealt treacherously with her;

they have become her enemies.

³Judah has gone into captivity,

under affliction and great servitude;

she dwells among the nations,

she finds no rest;

all her persecutors overtook her

in the midst of distress.

⁴The roads to Zion mourn

because no one comes to the solemn feasts.

All her gates are desolate;

her priests sigh,

her virgins are afflicted,

and she herself suffers bitterly.

⁵Her adversaries have become her masters,

her enemies prosper;

for the Lord has afflicted her

because of the multitude of her transgressions.

Her children have gone into captivity

before the enemy.

⁶From the daughter of Zion

all her beauty has departed.

Her princes have become like deer

that find no pasture;

they fled without strength

before the pursuer.

⁷In the days of her affliction and misery

Jerusalem remembers all her pleasant things

that she had in the days of old.

When her people fell into the hand of the enemy,

there was no one to help her.

The adversaries saw her

and mocked at her desolation.

⁸Jerusalem has sinned grievously;[#Isa 59:2–13; La 1:20–22]

therefore she has become vile.

All who honored her despise her,

for they have seen her nakedness;

she herself sighs

and turns away.

⁹Her uncleanness is in her skirts;

she took no thought of her future;

therefore her fall is astounding;

she has no comforter.

“O Lord , look upon my affliction,

for the enemy has triumphed!”

¹⁰The adversary has spread his hand

over all her precious things;

for she has seen the nations

enter her sanctuary,

those whom You commanded

not to enter Your congregation.

¹¹All her people groan,

as they search for bread;

they trade their treasures for food

to restore their strength.

Look, O Lord , and consider,

for I am despised.

¹²Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?

Look and see

if there is any sorrow like my sorrow,

which was brought upon me,

which the Lord has inflicted

on the day of His fierce anger.

¹³From on high He has sent fire into my bones,[#Job 30:30; Hab 3:16]

and it prevailed against them;

He has spread a net for my feet;

He turned me back;

He has made me desolate

and faint all the day long.

¹⁴The yoke of my transgressions[#Dt 28:48; Isa 47:6]

was bound; by His hand

they were fastened together; they were set upon my neck.

He made my strength fail;

the Lord delivered me into the hands

of those whom I am not able to withstand.

¹⁵The Lord has trampled underfoot

all my mighty men in my midst;

He has called 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 flow with tears;

for the comforter, who should relieve my soul,

is far from me.

My children are desolate

for the enemy has prevailed.

¹⁷Zion spreads out her hands,[#Isa 1:15; Jer 4:31]

but there is no one to comfort her;

the Lord has commanded against Jacob

that his neighbors should be his adversaries;

Jerusalem has become a filthy thing among them.

¹⁸The Lord is in the right,

for I have rebelled against His commandment.

Hear now, all peoples,

and see my sorrow;

my virgins and my young men

have gone into captivity.

¹⁹I called for my lovers,

but they deceived me;

my priests and my elders

perished in the city,

while they sought food

to restore their strength.

²⁰Look, O Lord , for I am in distress;

my soul is greatly troubled;

my heart is overturned within me,

for I have grievously rebelled.

In the street the sword bereaves,

at home it is like death.

²¹They have heard my groaning,[#La 1:8]

yet there is no one to comfort me.

All my enemies have heard of my trouble;

they are glad that You have done it.

Bring the day that You have announced,

that they become like me.

²²Let all their wickedness come before You,

and do to them

as You have done to me

for all my transgressions;

for my groans are many,

and my heart is faint.