Lamentations 1

How Lonely Sits the City

1  a How lonely sits the city
that was full of people!
How like b a widow has she become,
she who was great among the nations!
She who was c a princess among the provinces
has become d a slave.
 2  e She weeps bitterly in the night,
with tears on her cheeks;
f among all her lovers
she has g none to comfort her;
h all her friends have dealt treacherously with her;
they have become her enemies.
 3  i Judah has gone into exile because of affliction
and hard servitude;
j she dwells now among the nations,
k but finds no resting place;
her pursuers have all overtaken her
in the midst of her distress. ▼
▼ Or  in the narrow passes

 4  The roads to Zion mourn,
for none come to m the festival;
n all her gates are desolate;
her priests o groan;
her virgins have been afflicted, ▼
▼ Septuagint, Old Latin dragged away

and she herself suffers bitterly.
 5  q Her foes have become the head;
her r enemies prosper,
because s the  Lord has afflicted her
t for the multitude of her transgressions;
u her children have gone away,
captives before the foe.
 6  From the daughter of Zion
all her majesty has departed.
Her princes have become like deer
v that find no pasture;
they fled without strength
before the pursuer.
 7  Jerusalem remembers
in the days of her affliction and wandering
w all the precious things
that were hers from x days of old.
When her people fell into the hand of the foe,
and there was none to help her,
her foes gloated over her;
they y mocked at her downfall.
 8  z Jerusalem sinned grievously;
therefore she became filthy;
all who honored her despise her,
aa for they have seen her nakedness;
she herself ab groans
and turns her face away.
 9  Her uncleanness was ac in her skirts;
ad she took no thought of her future; ▼
▼ Or end

therefore her fall is terrible;
af she has no comforter.
“O  Lord, behold my affliction,
for the enemy has ag triumphed!”
 10  The enemy has stretched out his hands
over all her ah precious things;
for she has seen ai the nations
enter her sanctuary,
those whom you aj forbade
to enter your congregation.
 11  All her people ak groan
as al they search for bread;
they trade their am treasures for an food
to revive their strength.
“Look, O  Lord, and see,
for I am despised.”
 12  “Is it nothing to you, all ao you who pass by?
ap Look and see
if there is any sorrow like my sorrow,
which was brought upon me,
which aq the  Lord inflicted
on ar the day of his fierce anger.
 13  “From on high he as sent fire;
into my bones ▼
▼ Septuagint; Hebrew  bones and
 he made it descend;
au he spread a net for my feet;
he turned me back;
av he has left me stunned,
faint all the day long.
 14  “My transgressions were bound ▼
▼ The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
 into ax a yoke;
by his hand they were fastened together;
they were set upon my neck;
he caused my strength to fail;
the Lord gave me into the hands
of those whom I cannot withstand.
 15  “The Lord rejected
all my mighty men in my midst;
he summoned an assembly against me
to crush my young men;
ay the Lord has trodden as in a winepress
the virgin daughter of Judah.
 16  “For these things az I weep;
my eyes flow with tears;
for ba a comforter is far from me,
one to bb revive my spirit;
my children are desolate,
for the enemy has prevailed.”
 17  bc Zion stretches out her hands,
but bd there is none to comfort her;
the  Lord has commanded against Jacob
that his neighbors should be his foes;
Jerusalem has become
a filthy thing among them.
 18  be “The  Lord is in the right,
bf for I have rebelled against his word;
but hear, all you peoples,
and see my suffering;
bg my young women and my young men
have gone into captivity.
 19  “I called to bh my lovers,
but they deceived me;
my priests and elders
perished in the city,
while bi they sought food
to revive their strength.
 20  “Look, O  Lord, for I am in distress;
bj my stomach churns;
my heart is wrung within me,
because I have been very rebellious.
bk In the street the sword bereaves;
in the house it is like death.
 21  “They heard ▼
▼ Septuagint, Syriac Hear
 bm my groaning,
yet bn there is no one to comfort me.
All my enemies have heard of my trouble;
bo they are glad that you have done it.
You have brought ▼
▼ Syriac Bring
 the day you announced;
bq now let them be as I am.
 22  br “Let all their evildoing come before you,
and deal with them
as bs you have dealt with me
because of all my transgressions;
for bt my groans are many,
and bu my heart is faint.”
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