Lamentations 1:11-22

English Standard Version

¹¹All her people ^(A)groan
    as ^(B)they search for bread;
they trade their ^(C)treasures for ^(D)food
    to revive their strength.
“Look, O Lord, and see,
    for I am despised.”

¹²“Is it nothing to you, all ^(E)you who pass by?
    ^(F)Look and see
if there is any sorrow like my sorrow,
    which was brought upon me,
which ^(G)the Lord inflicted
    on ^(H)the day of his fierce anger.

¹³“From on high he ^(I)sent fire;
    into my bones^[a] he made it descend;
^(J)he spread a net for my feet;
    he turned me back;
^(K)he has left me stunned,
    faint all the day long.

¹⁴“My transgressions were bound^[b] into ^(L)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;
^(M)the Lord has trodden as in a winepress
    the virgin daughter of Judah.

¹⁶“For these things ^(N)I weep;
    my eyes flow with tears;
for ^(O)a comforter is far from me,
    one to ^(P)revive my spirit;
my children are desolate,
    for the enemy has prevailed.”

¹⁷^(Q)Zion stretches out her hands,
    but ^(R)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^(S)“The Lord is in the right,
    ^(T)for I have rebelled against his word;
but hear, all you peoples,
    and see my suffering;
^(U)my young women and my young men
    have gone into captivity.

¹⁹“I called to ^(V)my lovers,
    but they deceived me;
my priests and elders
    perished in the city,
while ^(W)they sought food
    to revive their strength.

²⁰“Look, O Lord, for I am in distress;
    ^(X)my stomach churns;
my heart is wrung within me,
    because I have been very rebellious.
^(Y)In the street the sword bereaves;
    in the house it is like death.

²¹“They heard^[c] ^(Z)my groaning,
    yet ^(AA)there is no one to comfort me.
All my enemies have heard of my trouble;
    ^(AB)they are glad that you have done it.
You have brought^[d] the day you announced;
    ^(AC)now let them be as I am.

²²^(AD)“Let all their evildoing come before you,
    and deal with them
as ^(AE)you have dealt with me
    because of all my transgressions;
for ^(AF)my groans are many,
    and ^(AG)my heart is faint.”