Lamentations 2-4

English Standard Version

² The Lord ^(D)has swallowed up ^(E)without mercy
    all the habitations of Jacob;
in his wrath ^(F)he has broken down
    the strongholds of the daughter of Judah;
he has brought ^(G)down to the ground ^(H)in dishonor
    the kingdom ^(I)and its rulers.

³ He has cut down in ^(J)fierce anger
    all ^(K)the might of Israel;
^(L)he has withdrawn from them his right hand
    in the face of the enemy;
^(M)he has burned like a flaming fire in Jacob,
    consuming all around.

^4 (N)He has bent his bow like an enemy,
    with his right hand set ^(O)like a foe;
and he has killed all who were delightful in our eyes
    in the tent of the daughter of Zion;
he has poured out his fury like fire.

^5 (P)The Lord has become like an enemy;
    ^(Q)he has swallowed up Israel;
^(R)he has swallowed up all its palaces;
    he has laid in ruins its strongholds,
and he has multiplied in the daughter of Judah
    ^(S)mourning and lamentation.

⁶ He has laid waste his booth like a garden,
    laid in ruins ^(T)his meeting place;
^(U)the Lord has made Zion forget
    festival and ^(V)Sabbath,
and in his fierce indignation has spurned king and priest.

^7 (W)The Lord has scorned his altar,
    ^(X)disowned his sanctuary;
^(Y)he has delivered into the hand of the enemy
    the walls of her palaces;
^(Z)they raised a clamor in the house of the Lord
    as on the day of festival.

^8 (AA)The Lord determined to lay in ruins
    ^(AB)the wall of the daughter of Zion;
^(AC)he stretched out the measuring line;
    he did not restrain his hand from destroying;
^(AD)he caused rampart and wall to lament;
    ^(AE)they languished together.

⁹ Her gates have sunk into the ground;
    ^(AF)he has ruined ^(AG)and broken her bars;
^(AH)her king and princes are among the nations;
    the law is no more,
and ^(AI)her prophets find
    no vision from the Lord.

¹⁰ The elders of the daughter of Zion
    ^(AJ)sit on the ground ^(AK)in silence;
^(AL)they have thrown dust on their heads
    and ^(AM)put on sackcloth;
the young women of Jerusalem
    have bowed their heads to the ground.

^11 (AN)My eyes are spent with weeping;
    ^(AO)my stomach churns;
^(AP)my bile is poured out to the ground
    ^(AQ)because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
^(AR)because infants and babies ^(AS)faint
    in the streets of the city.

¹² They cry to their mothers,
    ^(AT)“Where is bread and wine?”
^(AU)as they faint like a wounded man
    in the streets of the city,
as their life is poured out
    on their mothers' bosom.

¹³ What can I say for you, ^(AV)to what compare you,
    O daughter of Jerusalem?
^(AW)What can I liken to you, that I may comfort you,
    O virgin daughter of Zion?
^(AX)For your ruin is vast as the sea;
    who can heal you?

^14 (AY)Your prophets have seen for you
    false and deceptive visions;
^(AZ)they have not exposed your iniquity
    to ^(BA)restore your fortunes,
^(BB)but have seen for you ^(BC)oracles
    that are false and misleading.

¹⁵ All who pass along the way
    clap their hands at you;
^(BD)they hiss and wag their heads
    at the daughter of Jerusalem:
“Is this the city that was called
    ^(BE)the perfection of beauty,
    ^(BF)the joy of all the earth?”

^16 (BG)All your enemies
    rail against you;
they hiss, they gnash their teeth,
    they cry: “We ^(BH)have swallowed her!
Ah, this is the day we longed for;
    now we have it; ^(BI)we see it!”

¹⁷ The Lord has done what he purposed;
    he has carried out ^(BJ)his word,
which he commanded ^(BK)long ago;
    ^(BL)he has thrown down ^(BM)without pity;
^(BN)he has made the enemy rejoice over you
    and exalted the ^(BO)might of your foes.

¹⁸ Their heart cried to the Lord.
    O ^(BP)wall of the daughter of Zion,
^(BQ)let tears stream down like a torrent
    ^(BR)day and night!
^(BS)Give yourself no rest,
    ^(BT)your eyes no respite!

¹⁹ “Arise, ^(BU)cry out in the night,
    at the beginning of the night watches!
^(BV)Pour out your heart like water
    before the presence of the Lord!
^(BW)Lift your hands to him
    for the lives of your children,
^(BX)who faint for hunger
    at the head of every street.”

²⁰ Look, O Lord, and see!
    ^(BY)With whom have you dealt thus?
^(BZ)Should women eat the fruit of their womb,
    the children of ^(CA)their tender care?
Should ^(CB)priest and prophet be killed
    in the sanctuary of the Lord?

²¹ In the dust of the streets
    ^(CC)lie the young and the old;
^(CD)my young women and my young men
    have fallen by the sword;
^(CE)you have killed them in the day of your anger,
    slaughtering ^(CF)without pity.

²² You summoned as if to ^(CG)a festival day
    ^(CH)my terrors on every side,
^(CI)and on the day of the anger of the Lord
    no one escaped or survived;
^(CJ)those whom I held and raised
    my enemy destroyed.

⁴ He has made my flesh and my skin waste away;
    ^(CN)he has broken my bones;
^5 (CO)he has besieged and enveloped me
    with ^(CP)bitterness and tribulation;
^6 (CQ)he has made me dwell in darkness
    like the dead of long ago.

^7 (CR)He has walled me about so that ^(CS)I cannot escape;
    he has made my chains heavy;
⁸ though ^(CT)I call and cry for help,
    he shuts out my prayer;
^9 (CU)he has blocked my ways with blocks of stones;
    he has made my paths crooked.

^10 (CV)He is a bear lying in wait for me,
    a lion in hiding;
^11 (CW)he turned aside my steps and ^(CX)tore me to pieces;
    ^(CY)he has made me desolate;
^12 (CZ)he bent his bow ^(DA)and set me
    as a target for his arrow.

¹³ He drove into my kidneys
    ^(DB)the arrows of his quiver;
^14 (DC)I have become the laughingstock of all peoples,
    ^(DD)the object of their taunts all day long.
^15 (DE)He has filled me with bitterness;
    he has sated me with ^(DF)wormwood.

^16 (DG)He has made my teeth grind on gravel,
    and ^(DH)made me cower in ashes;
¹⁷ my soul is bereft of peace;
    I have forgotten what happiness^[a] is;
^18 (DI)so I say, “My endurance has perished;
    so has my hope from the Lord.”

^19 (DJ)Remember my affliction and my wanderings,
    ^(DK)the wormwood and ^(DL)the gall!
²⁰ My soul continually remembers it
    ^(DM)and is bowed down within me.
²¹ But this I call to mind,
    and ^(DN)therefore I have hope:

^22 (DO)The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;^{[b]
    (DP)}his mercies never come to an end;
²³ they are new ^(DQ)every morning;
    ^(DR)great is your faithfulness.
^24 (DS)“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
    ^(DT)“therefore I will hope in him.”

²⁵ The Lord is good to those who ^(DU)wait for him,
    to the soul who seeks him.
^26 (DV)It is good that one should wait quietly
    for the salvation of the Lord.
^27 (DW)It is good for a man that he bear
    the yoke ^(DX)in his youth.

²⁸ Let him ^(DY)sit alone in silence
    when it is laid on him;
^29 (DZ)let him put his mouth in the dust—
    there may yet be hope;
^30 (EA)let him give his cheek to the one who strikes,
    and let him be filled with insults.

^31 (EB)For the Lord will not
    cast off forever,
³² but, though he ^(EC)cause grief, ^(ED)he will have compassion
    ^(EE)according to the abundance of his steadfast love;
^33 (EF)for he does not afflict from his heart
    or ^(EG)grieve the children of men.

³⁴ To crush underfoot
    all ^(EH)the prisoners of the earth,
^35 (EI)to deny a man justice
    in the presence of the Most High,
³⁶ to subvert a man in his lawsuit,
    ^(EJ)the Lord does not approve.

^37 (EK)Who has spoken and it came to pass,
    unless the Lord has commanded it?
^38 (EL)Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
    that good and bad come?
^39 (EM)Why should a living man complain,
    a man, about the punishment of his sins?

⁴⁰ Let us test and examine our ways,
    ^(EN)and return to the Lord!
^41 (EO)Let us lift up our hearts and hands
    to God in heaven:
^42 (EP)“We have transgressed and ^(EQ)rebelled,
    and you have not forgiven.

⁴³ “You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us,
    ^(ER)killing without pity;
^44 (ES)you have wrapped yourself with a cloud
    so that no prayer can pass through.
^45 (ET)You have made us scum and garbage
    among the peoples.

^46 (EU)“All our enemies
    open their mouths against us;
^47 (EV)panic and pitfall have come upon us,
    devastation and ^(EW)destruction;
^48 (EX)my eyes flow with rivers of tears
    because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.

^49 (EY)“My eyes will flow without ceasing,
    without respite,
^50 (EZ)until the Lord from heaven
    looks down and sees;
⁵¹ my eyes cause me grief
    at the fate of all the daughters of my city.

^52 (FA)“I have been hunted ^(FB)like a bird
    by those who were my enemies ^(FC)without cause;
^53 (FD)they flung me alive into the pit
    ^(FE)and cast stones on me;
^54 (FF)water closed over my head;
    I said, ^(FG)‘I am lost.’

^55 (FH)“I called on your name, O Lord,
    from the depths of the pit;
^56 (FI)you heard my plea, ‘Do not close
    your ear to my cry for help!’
^57 (FJ)You came near when I called on you;
    you said, ^(FK)‘Do not fear!’

⁵⁸ “You have ^(FL)taken up my cause, ^(FM)O Lord;
    you have ^(FN)redeemed my life.
⁵⁹ You have seen the wrong done to me, ^(FO)O Lord;
    judge my cause.
⁶⁰ You have seen all their vengeance,
    all ^(FP)their plots against me.

^61 (FQ)“You have heard their taunts, O Lord,
    all ^(FR)their plots against me.
⁶² The lips and thoughts ^(FS)of my assailants
    are against me all the day long.
^63 (FT)Behold their sitting and their rising;
    ^(FU)I am the object of their taunts.

^64 (FV)“You will repay them,^[c] O Lord,
    ^(FW)according to the work of their hands.
⁶⁵ You will give them^[d] dullness of heart;
    your curse will be^[e] on them.
⁶⁶ You will pursue them^[f] in anger and ^(FX)destroy them
    from under ^(FY)your heavens, O Lord.”^[g]

² The precious sons of Zion,
    worth their weight in ^(GB)fine gold,
how they are regarded as ^(GC)earthen pots,
    the work of a potter's hands!

³ Even jackals offer the breast;
    they nurse their young;
but the daughter of my people has become cruel,
    like the ostriches in the wilderness.

⁴ The tongue of the nursing infant ^(GD)sticks
    to the roof of its mouth for thirst;
^(GE)the children beg for food,
    but no one gives to them.

⁵ Those who once feasted on delicacies
    perish in the streets;
^(GF)those who were brought up in purple
    embrace ash heaps.

^6 (GG)For the chastisement^[h] of the daughter of my people has been greater
    than the punishment^[i] of Sodom,
^(GH)which was overthrown in a moment,
    and no hands were wrung for her.^[j]

⁷ Her princes were purer than snow,
    whiter than milk;
their bodies were more ruddy than coral,
    the beauty of their form^[k] was like sapphire.^[l]

^8 (GI)Now their face is blacker than soot;
    they are not recognized in the streets;
their skin has shriveled on their bones;
    it has become as dry as wood.

⁹ Happier were the victims of the sword
    than the victims of hunger,
who wasted away, pierced
    by lack of the fruits of the field.

^10 (GJ)The hands of ^(GK)compassionate women
    ^(GL)have boiled their own children;
^(GM)they became their food
    during the destruction of the daughter of my people.

^11 (GN)The Lord gave full vent to his wrath;
    he poured out his hot anger,
and ^(GO)he kindled a fire in Zion
    that consumed its foundations.

^12 (GP)The kings of the earth did not believe,
    nor any of the inhabitants of the world,
that foe or enemy could enter
    the gates of Jerusalem.

¹³ This was for ^(GQ)the sins of her prophets
    and ^(GR)the iniquities of her priests,
who shed in the midst of her
    the blood of the righteous.

^14 (GS)They wandered, blind, through the streets;
    they were so defiled with blood
^(GT)that no one was able to touch
    their garments.

¹⁵ “Away! ^(GU)Unclean!” people cried at them.
    “Away! Away! Do not touch!”
So they became fugitives and wanderers;
    people said among the nations,
    “They shall stay with us no longer.”

^16 (GV)The Lord himself^[m] has scattered them;
    he will regard them no more;
^(GW)no honor was shown to the priests,
    ^(GX)no favor to the elders.

^17 (GY)Our eyes failed, ever watching
    ^(GZ)vainly for help;
in our watching we watched
    for ^(HA)a nation which could not save.

^18 (HB)They dogged our steps
    so that we could not walk in our streets;
^(HC)our end drew near; our days were numbered,
    for our end had come.

¹⁹ Our pursuers were ^(HD)swifter
    than the eagles in the heavens;
they chased us on the mountains;
    they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.

^20 (HE)The breath of our nostrils, ^(HF)the Lord's anointed,
    was captured ^(HG)in their pits,
of whom we said, ^(HH)“Under his shadow
    we shall live among the nations.”

^21 (HI)Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom,
    you who dwell in ^(HJ)the land of Uz;
but to you also ^(HK)the cup shall pass;
    you shall become drunk and strip yourself bare.

^22 (HL)The punishment of your iniquity, O daughter of Zion, is accomplished;
    he will keep you in exile no longer;^[n]
but ^(HM)your iniquity, O daughter of Edom, he will punish;
    he will uncover your sins.