| 1:2 |
She weeps aloudbitterly during the night, with tears on her cheeks. There is no one to offer her comfort, not one from all her lovers. All her friends have betrayed her; they have become her enemies. |
| 1:6 |
All herthe splendor has vanished from Daughter Zion. Her leaders are like stags that find no pasture; they walkstumble away exhausted before the hunter. |
| 1:9 |
Her uncleanness stains her skirts. She never considered her end. Her downfall was astonishing; there was no one to comfort her. Lord, look on my affliction, for the enemy triumphs!boasts. |
| 1:10 |
The adversary has seized all her precious belongings. She has even seen the nations enter her sanctuary — those Youyou had forbidden to enter Youryour assembly. |
| 1:12 |
Is this nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and see! Is there any pain like mine, which was dealt out to me, which the Lord made me suffer on the day of Hishis burning anger? |
| 1:13 |
He sent fire from heavenon high into my bones; Hehe made it descend. He spread a net for my feet and turned me back. He made me desolate, sick all day long. |
| 1:14 |
My transgressions have been formed into a yoke, fastened together by Hishis hand; they have been placed on my neck, and the Lord has broken my strength. He has handed me over to those I cannot withstand. |
| 1:18 |
The Lord is just, for I have rebelled against Hishis command. Listen, all you people; look at my pain. My young menwomen and womenyoung men have gone into captivity. |
| 1:20 |
Lord, see how I am in distress. I am churning within; my heart is broken, for I have been very rebellious. Outside, the sword takes the children; inside, there is death. |
| 1:21 |
People have heard me groaning, but there is no one to comfort me. All my enemies have heard of my misfortune; they are glad that Youyou have caused it. Bring on the day Youyou have announced, so that they may become like me. |
| 1:22 |
Let all their wickedness come before Youyou, and deal with them as Youyou have dealt with me because of all my transgressions. For my groans are many, and I am sick at heart. |
| 2:1 |
How the Lord has overshadowed Daughter Zion with Hishis anger! He has thrown down Israel’s glory from heaven to earth. He hasdid abandonednot Hisacknowledge his footstool in the day of Hishis anger. |
| 2:2 |
Without compassion the Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob. In Hishis wrath Hehe has demolished the fortified cities of Daughter Judah. He brought them to the ground and defiled the kingdom and its leaders. |
| 2:3 |
He has cut off every horn of Israel in Hishis burning anger and withdrawn Hishis right hand in the presence of the enemy. He has blazed against Jacob like a flaming fire that consumes everything. |
| 2:4 |
He has bentstrung Hishis bow like an enemy; Hishis right hand is positioned like an adversary. He has killed everyone who was lovedthe delight to the eye, pouring out Hishis wrath like fire on the tent of Daughter Zion. |
| 2:5 |
The Lord is like an enemy; Hehe has swallowed up Israel. He swallowed up all its palaces and destroyed its fortified cities. He has multiplied mourning and lamentation within Daughter Judah. |
| 2:6 |
He has donewrecked violencehis to His temple as if it were merely a gardenshack boothin a field, destroying Hishis place of meeting. The Lord has abolished appointed festivals and Sabbaths in Zion. He has despised king and priest in Hishis fierce anger. |
| 2:7 |
The Lord has rejected Hishis altar, repudiated Hishis sanctuary; Hehe has handed the walls of her palaces over to the enemy. They have raised a shout in the house of the Lord as on the day of an appointed festival. |
| 2:8 |
The Lord determined to destroy the wall of Daughter Zion. He stretched out a measuring line and did not restrain Himselfhimself from destroying. He made the ramparts and walls grieve; together they waste away. |
| 2:9 |
Zion’s gates have fallen to the ground; Hehe has destroyed and shattered the bars on her gates. Her king and her leaders live among the nations, instruction is no more, and even her prophets receive no vision from the Lord. |
| 2:11 |
My eyes are worn out from weeping; I am churning within. My heart is poured out in grief because of the destruction of my dear people, because childreninfants and infantsnursing babies faint in the streets of the city. |
| 2:12 |
They cry out to their mothers:, “Where is the grain and wine??” as they faint like the wounded in the streets of the city, as their liveslife fadepours awayout in the arms of their mothers. |
| 2:14 |
Your prophets saw visions for you that were empty and deceptive; they did not reveal your guiltiniquity and so restore your fortunes. They saw oraclespronouncements for you that were empty and misleading. |
| 2:15 |
All who pass by scornfully clap their hands at you. They mockhiss and shake their heads at Daughter Jerusalem: Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth? |
| 2:17 |
The Lord has done what Hehe planned; Hehe has accomplished Hishis decree, which Hehe ordained in days of old. He has demolished without compassion, letting the enemy gloat over you and exalting the horn of your adversaries. |
| 2:19 |
Arise, cry out in the night from the first watch of the night. Pour out your heart like water before the Lord’s presence. Lift up your hands to Himhim for the lives of your children who are fainting from hunger onat the cornerhead of every street. |
| 2:20 |
Lord, look and consider whoto Youwhom you have done this to. Should women eat their own children, the infants they have nurtured? Should priests and prophets be killed in the Lord’s sanctuary? |
| 2:21 |
Both young and old are lying on the ground in the streets. My young menwomen and womenyoung men have fallen by the sword. You have killed them in the day of Youryour anger, slaughtering without compassion. |
| 2:22 |
You summonedsummon mythose attackerswho terrorize me on every side, as if for an appointed festival day; on the day of the Lord’s anger no one escaped or survived. My enemy has destroyed those I nurtured and reared. |
| 3:3 |
Yes, Hehe repeatedly turns Hishis hand against me all day long. |
| 3:4 |
He has worn away my flesh and skin; Hehe has shatteredbroken my bones. |
| 3:7 |
He has walled me in so I cannot escapeget out; Hehe has weighed me down with chains. |
| 3:8 |
Even when I cry out and plead for help, Hehe rejectsblocks out my prayer. |
| 3:9 |
He has walled in my ways with cutblocks stonesof stone; Hehe has made my paths crooked. |
| 3:11 |
He forced me off my way and tore me to pieces; Hehe left me desolate. |
| 3:12 |
He strung Hishis bow and set me as the target for Hishis arrow. |
| 3:13 |
He pierced my kidneys with Hisshafts arrowsfrom his quiver. |
| 3:16 |
He ground my teeth onwith gravel and made me cower in the dust. |
| 3:17 |
MyI soulhave has been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what happinessprosperity is. |
| 3:18 |
Then I thought:, “My future is lost, as well as my hope from the Lord..” |
| 3:22 |
Because of the Lord’s faithful love we do not perish, for Hishis mercies never end. |
| 3:23 |
They are new every morning; great is Youryour faithfulness! |
| 3:24 |
I say:, “The Lord is my portion, therefore I will put my hope in Him.him.” |
| 3:25 |
The Lord is good to those who wait for Himhim, to the person who seeks Himhim. |
| 3:26 |
It is good to wait quietly for deliverancesalvation from the Lord. |
| 3:29 |
Let him put his mouth in the dust — perhaps there is still hope. |
| 3:30 |
Let him offer his cheek to the one who would strike him; let him be filled with shamedisgrace. |
| 3:32 |
Even if Hehe causes suffering, Hehe will show compassion according to Histhe abundant,abundance of his faithful love. |
| 3:33 |
For Hehe does not enjoy bringing affliction or suffering on mankind. |
| 3:36 |
or suppressingsubverting a person’s in his lawsuit — the Lord does not approve of these things. |
| 3:40 |
Let’s usexamine search out and examineprobe our ways, and turn back to the Lord. |
| 3:41 |
Let’s us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven: |
| 3:42 |
“We have sinned and rebelled; Youyou have not forgiven. |
| 3:43 |
“You have covered Yourselfyourself in anger and pursued us; Youyou have killed without compassion. |
| 3:44 |
You have covered Yourselfyourself with a cloud so that no prayer can passget through. |
| 3:46 |
“All our enemies open their mouths against us. |
| 3:47 |
We have experienced panic and pitfall, devastation and destruction..” |
| 3:52 |
For no apparent reason, my enemies hunted me like a bird. |
| 3:53 |
They droppedsmothered memy alivelife intoin a pit and threw stones aton me. |
| 3:54 |
Water flooded over my head, and I thought:, “I’m going to die!!” |
| 3:55 |
I called on Youryour name, YahwehLord, from the depths of the Pitpit. |
| 3:56 |
You hearheard my plea: Do not ignore my cry for relief. |
| 3:57 |
You comecame near whenwhenever I callcalled on Youyou; Youyou say:said, “Do not be afraid.” |
| 3:58 |
You defendchampioned my cause, Lord; Youyou redeemredeemed my life. |
| 3:59 |
Lord, Youyou seesaw the wrong done to me; judge my case. |
| 3:60 |
You seesaw all their malicevengefulness, all their plots against me. |
| 3:61 |
Lord, Youyou hearheard their insults, all their plots against me. |
| 3:65 |
You will give them a heart filled with anguish. May Youryour curse be on them! |
| 3:66 |
You will pursue them in anger and destroy them under Youryour heavens. |
| 4:1 |
How the gold has become tarnished, the fine gold become dull! The stones of the temple lie scattered at the cornerhead of every street. |
| 4:2 |
Zion’s precious peoplechildren — once worth their weight in pure gold — how they are regarded as clay jars, the work of a potter’s hands! |
| 4:4 |
The nursing infantbaby’s tongue clings to the roof of his mouth from thirst. LittleInfants children beg for breadfood, but no one gives them any. |
| 4:5 |
Those who used to eat delicacies are destitute in the streets; those who were reared in purple garments huddle in garbagetrash heaps. |
| 4:7 |
Her dignitaries were brighter than snow, whiter than milk; their bodies were more ruddy than coral, their appearance like sapphirelapis lazuli. |
| 4:11 |
The Lord has exhausted Hishis wrath, poured out Hishis burning anger; Hehe has ignited a fire in Zion, and it has consumed her foundations. |
| 4:13 |
Yet it happened because of the sins of her prophets and the guiltiniquities of her priests, who shed the blood of the righteous within her. |
| 4:16 |
The Lord Himselfhimself has scattered them; Hehe regardsno themlonger nowatches moreover them. The priests are not respected; the elders find no favor. |
| 4:17 |
All the while our eyes were failing as we looked in vain for assistancehelp; we watched from our towers for a nation that refusedwould tonot helpsave us. |
| 4:18 |
Our steps were closely followed so that we could not walk in our streets. Our end drew nearapproached; our time ran out. Our end had come! |
| 4:22 |
Daughter Zion, your punishment is complete; Hehe will not lengthen your exile. But Hehe will punish your iniquity, Daughter Edom, and will expose your sins. |
| 5:1 |
Yahweh Lord, remember what has happened to us. Look, and see our disgrace! |
| 5:7 |
Our fathersancestors sinned; they no longer exist, but we bear their punishment. |
| 5:8 |
Slaves rule over us; no one rescues us from theirthem. hands. |
| 5:11 |
Women arehave been raped in Zion, girlsvirgins in the cities of Judah. |
| 5:12 |
Princes arehave been hung up by their hands; elders are shown no respect. |
| 5:19 |
You, Lord, are enthroned forever; Youryour throne endures from generation to generation. |
| 5:20 |
Why havedo Youyou forgottencontinually forget us forever, abandonedabandon us for our entire lives? |
| 5:21 |
Lord, restorebring us back to Yourselfyourself, so we may return; renew our days as in former times, |
| 5:22 |
unless Youyou have completely rejected us and are intensely angry with us. |