SupportLamentations 1
The Sorrows of Zion
1How lonely sits the cityThat was full of people!She has become like a widowWho was once great among the nations!She who was a princess among the provincesHas become a forced laborer!
2She weeps bitterly in the nightAnd her tears are on her cheeks;She has none to comfort herAmong all her lovers.All her friends have dealt treacherously with her;They have become her enemies.
3Judah has gone into exile under afflictionAnd under harsh servitude;She dwells among the nations,But she has found no rest;All her pursuers have overtaken herIn the midst of distress.
4The roads of Zion are in mourningBecause no one comes to the appointed feasts.All her gates are desolate;Her priests are groaning,Her virgins are afflicted,And she herself is bitter.
5Her adversaries have become her masters,Her enemies prosper;For the Lord has caused her griefBecause of the multitude of her transgressions;Her little ones have gone awayAs captives before the adversary.
6All her majestyHas departed from the daughter of Zion;Her princes have become like deerThat have found no pasture;And they have fled without strengthBefore the pursuer.
7In the days of her affliction and homelessnessJerusalem remembers all her precious thingsThat were from the days of old,When her people fell into the hand of the adversaryAnd no one helped her.The adversaries saw her,They mocked at her ruin.
8Jerusalem sinned greatly,Therefore she has become an unclean thing.All who honored her despise herBecause they have seen her nakedness;Even she herself groans and turns away.
9Her uncleanness was in her skirts;She did not consider her future.Therefore she has fallen astonishingly;She has no comforter.“See, O Lord, my affliction,For the enemy has magnified himself!”
10The adversary has stretched out his handOver all her precious things,For she has seen the nations enter her sanctuary,The ones whom You commandedThat they should not enter into Your congregation.
11All her people groan seeking bread;They have given their precious things for foodTo restore their lives themselves.“See, O Lord, and look,For I am despised.”
12“Is it nothing to all you who pass this way?Look and see if there is any pain like my painWhich was severely dealt out to me,Which the Lord inflicted on the day of His fierce anger.
13From on high He sent fire into my bones,And it prevailed over them.He has spread a net for my feet;He has turned me back;He has made me desolate,Faint all day long.
14The yoke of my transgressions is bound;By His hand they are knit together.They have come upon my neck;He has made my strength fail.The Lord has given me into the handsOf those against whom I am not able to stand.
15The Lord has rejected all my strong menIn my midst;He has called an appointed time against meTo crush my young men;The Lord has trodden as in a wine pressThe virgin daughter of Judah.
16For these things I weep;My eyes run down with water;Because far from me is a comforter,One who restores my soul.My children are desolateBecause the enemy has prevailed.”
17Zion stretches out her hands;There is no one to comfort her;The Lord has commanded concerning JacobThat the ones round about him should be his adversaries;Jerusalem has become an unclean thing among them.
18“The Lord is righteous;For I have rebelled against His command;Hear now, all peoples,And behold my pain;My virgins and my young menHave gone into captivity.
19I called to my lovers, but they deceived me;My priests and my elders perished in the cityWhile they sought food to restore their strength themselves.
20See, O Lord, for I am in distress;My spirit is greatly troubled;My heart is overturned within me,For I have been very rebellious.In the street the sword slays;In the house it is like death.
21They have heard that I groan;There is no one to comfort me;All my enemies have heard of my calamity;They are glad that You have done it.Oh, that You would bring the day which You have proclaimed,That they may become like me.
22Let all their wickedness come before You;And deal with them as You have dealt with meFor all my transgressions;For my groans are many and my heart is faint.”
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