Jerusalem the Abandoned Widow

¹How lonely sits the city

once thronged with people!

Once great among the nations,

she is now lonely like a widow.

Once a fair princess ruling among the provinces,

now a shackled servant.

²She is weeping bitterly through the night,[#1:2 Or “Weeping she weeps.”]

with tears streaming down her cheeks.

Among all her lovers,

not one can be found to comfort her.

Her friends have all betrayed her

and have now become her enemies.

³Judah’s people have gone into exile

under harsh labor and much pain.

They found no place to rest

living among foreigners.

All their enemies have seized them

in the narrow passes.

⁴The empty roads to Zion mourn,

for no one travels to her sacred feasts anymore.

The singing maidens suffer,

and the priests can only groan.

The city gates stand empty,

and Zion can only moan.

⁵Her foes have the upper hand

while her enemies are now at ease.

For Yahweh has made

Jerusalem suffer for her many, many sins.

Her young children are taken into captivity

as captives before the oppressor.

⁶All the splendor has departed

from the fair daughter of Zion.

Her princes are like deer

that find no pasture.

Weak and weary they stumble,

unable to flee from those who pursue them.

⁷In her days of wandering and affliction,

Jerusalem still remembers

all her precious treasures

that were hers from days gone by.

When the enemies defeated her people,

there was no one to help her.

Her conquerors looked on,

jeering and cheering at her downfall.

⁸Jerusalem has committed a horrible sin

and has become an object of scorn.

All who once honored her now despise her,

for they have seen her nakedness.

Shunned , she groans aloud

and turns to hide her face in shame.

⁹Her filth stains her skirts—

she never pictured this outcome.

Therefore, her fall is terrible

with no one to comfort her.

Jerusalem groans , “Yahweh , look how miserable I am;

all the while my enemy gloats!”

¹⁰The enemy has seized

all her precious treasures.

Before her very eyes she witnessed foreigners

enter her holy sanctuary,

although you had forbidden them

ever to enter your assembly.

¹¹Everyone is groaning,

longing for anything to eat;

they have traded their treasures for food

in order to keep themselves alive.

The Daughter of Zion’s Lament

“Look, Yahweh , and consider

how pathetic I have become!

¹²“None who passes by

even cares.

Turn around and look at me! Is there anyone who suffers

as much as I?

Yahweh , in the terrible day of your fierce anger,

you punished me worst of all.

¹³“From on high, he sent a fire deep in my bones,[#1:13 See Ps. 102:3–4; Jer. 20:9.]

and it conquered me.

He trapped my feet in his snare

and hurled me back.

He left me stunned

in misery that had no end.

¹⁴“Yahweh took my sins in his hands

and tied them into a yoke.

Then, he set his yoke upon my neck

and caused my strength to fail.

The Lord let my enemies defeat me;

I am helpless to resist.

¹⁵“The Lord has despised and rejected

all the mighty warriors who defended me.

He mobilized an army to destroy me

and crush my young men.

The Lord has trampled like grapes in a winepress

the fair daughter of Judah.

¹⁶“This is why I weep bitterly,

as tears stream down my cheeks.

Truly, no one is here to comfort me

or revive my life.

My children no longer have a future,

for the enemy has triumphed.”

¹⁷Zion stretches out her hands for help ,

but there is no one to comfort her.

At Yahweh ’s command, Jacob’s neighbors

became her enemies.

They all treated Jerusalem

as though she were a bloody rag.

¹⁸“Yahweh is just to judge,

for I have rebelled against his word.

Listen, everyone,

and see my sorrow;

my maidens and young men

have gone into captivity.

¹⁹“I called to my lovers,

but they cheated on me.

My leaders and priests

died in the city

while scrounging for food

just to keep themselves alive.

²⁰“Yahweh , can’t you see I’m in deep trouble?

My gut is churning

and my heart is burning—

how rebellious I have been!

The sword rules on the street;

plague rules within the houses.

²¹“They have heard my groans,

yet I have no one to comfort me.

All my enemies have heard of my trouble;

they are glad you have done this to me .

You threatened me and kept your promise—

oh, that the same would happen to them!

²²“Let all their wickedness condemn them.

Deal with them as you have dealt with me for all my sins.

My groaning seems endless,

and I am sick at heart.”