Lamentations 2-4
International Children’s Bible
The Lord Destroyed Jerusalem
2 Look how the Lord in his anger
has brought Jerusalem to shame.
He has thrown down the greatness of Israel
from the sky to the earth.
He did not remember the Temple, his footstool,
on the day of his anger.
2 The Lord swallowed up without mercy
all the houses of the people of Jacob.
In his anger he pulled down
the strong places of Judah.
He threw her kingdom and its rulers
down to the ground in dishonor.
3 In his anger the Lord has removed
all the strength of Israel.
He took away his power from Israel
when the enemy came.
He burned against the people of Jacob like a flaming fire
that burns up everything around it.
4 Like an enemy, the Lord prepared to shoot his bow.
He took hold of his sword.
Like an enemy, he killed
all the good-looking people.
He poured out his anger like fire
on the tents of Jerusalem.
5 The Lord has become like an enemy.
He has swallowed up Israel.
He has swallowed up all her palaces.
He has destroyed all her strong places.
He has caused more moaning and groaning
for Judah.
6 He has destroyed his Temple as if it were a garden tent.
He has destroyed the place where he met with his people.
The Lord has made Jerusalem forget
the set feasts and Sabbath days.
He has rejected the king and the priest
in his great anger.
7 The Lord has rejected his altar
and abandoned his Temple.
He has given to the enemy
the walls of Jerusalem’s palaces.
The enemy shouted in the Lord’s Temple
as if it were a feast day.
8 The Lord planned to destroy
the wall around Jerusalem.
He marked the wall off with a measuring line.
He did not stop himself from destroying it.
He made the walls and defenses sad.
Together they have fallen.
9 Jerusalem’s gates have fallen to the ground.
He destroyed and smashed the bars of the gates.
Her king and her princes are sent away among the nations.
The teaching of the Lord has stopped.
The prophets have not had
any visions from the Lord.
10 The elders of Jerusalem
sit on the ground and are silent.
They pour dust on their heads
and put on rough cloth to show how sad they are.
The young women of Jerusalem
bow their heads to the ground in sorrow.
11 My eyes are weak from crying.
I am troubled.
I feel as if I have been poured out on the ground
because my people have been destroyed.
Children and babies are fainting
in the streets of the city.
12 They say to their mothers,
“Where is some bread and wine?”
They faint like wounded soldiers
in the streets of the city.
They die in their mothers’ arms.
13 What can I say about you, Jerusalem?
What can I compare you to?
What can I say you are like?
How can I comfort you, Jerusalem?
Your ruin is as big as the sea.
No one can heal you.
14 Your prophets saw visions about you.
But they were false and worth nothing.
They did not expose your sins.
They did not keep you from being captured.
The messages they preached to you were false.
They fooled you.
15 All who pass by on the road
clap their hands at you.
They make fun and shake their heads
at Jerusalem.
They ask, “Is this the city that people called
the most beautiful city,
the happiest city on earth?”
16 All your enemies open their mouths
to say things against you.
They make fun and grind their teeth in anger.
They say, “We have swallowed her up.
This is the day we were waiting for.
We have finally seen it happen.”
17 The Lord has done what he planned.
He has carried out the order
that he commanded long ago.
He has destroyed without mercy.
He has made your enemies happy because of what happened to you.
He has strengthened your enemies.
18 The people
cry out to the Lord.
Wall of Jerusalem,
let your tears flow
like a river day and night.
Do not stop.
Do not let your eyes rest.
19 Get up, cry out in the night.
Cry all through the night.
Pour out your heart like water
in prayer to the Lord.
Lift up your hands in prayer to him.
Pray for the life of your children.
They are fainting with hunger
on every street corner.
20 Jerusalem says: “Look, Lord, and see.
You have never done this to anyone else.
Women eat their own babies,
the children they have cared for.
Priests and prophets
are killed in the Temple of the Lord.
21 “Young men and old men
lie on the ground in the streets of the city.
My young women and young men
have been killed by the sword.
You, Lord, killed them on the day of your anger.
You killed them without mercy.
22 “You invited terrors to come against me on every side.
It was as if you were inviting them to a feast.
No one escaped or remained alive
on the day of the Lord’s anger.
My enemy has killed
those whom I gave birth to and brought up.”
The Meaning of Suffering
3 I am a man who has seen the suffering
that comes from the rod of the Lord’s anger.
2 He led me
into darkness, not light.
3 He turned his hand against me
again and again, all day long.
4 He caused my flesh and skin to wear out.
He broke my bones.
5 He surrounded me and attacked me
with sadness and grief.
6 He made me sit in the dark,
like someone who has been dead a long time.
7 He shut me in so I could not get out.
He put heavy chains on me.
8 I cry out and beg for help.
But he ignores my prayer.
9 He has blocked my way with stones.
He has made my life difficult.
10 The Lord is like a bear ready to attack me.
He is like a lion in hiding.
11 He led me the wrong way and tore me to pieces.
He left me without help.
12 He prepared to shoot his bow.
He made me the target for his arrows.
13 He shot me in the kidneys
with the arrows from his arrow bag.
14 I have become a joke to all my people.
All day long they make fun of me with songs.
15 The Lord filled me with misery.
He filled me with suffering.
16 The Lord broke my teeth with gravel.
He crushed me into the dirt.
17 I have no more peace.
I have forgotten what happiness is.
18 I said, “My strength is gone.
I have no more hope that the Lord will help me.”
19 Lord, remember my suffering and how I have no home.
Remember the misery and suffering.
20 I remember them well.
And I am very sad.
21 But I have hope
when I think of this:
22 The Lord’s love never ends.
His mercies never stop.
23 They are new every morning.
Lord, your loyalty is great.
24 I say to myself, “The Lord is what I have left.
So I have hope.”
25 The Lord is good to those who put their hope in him.
He is good to those who look to him for help.
26 It is good to wait quietly
for the Lord to save.
27 It is good for a man to work hard
while he is young.
28 He should sit alone and be quiet
because the Lord has given him hard work to do.
29 He should bow to the Lord with his face to the ground.
Maybe there is still hope.
30 He should offer his cheek if someone wants to hit him.
He should be filled with shame.
31 The Lord will not reject
his people forever.
32 Although the Lord brings sorrow, he also has mercy.
His love is great.
33 The Lord does not like to punish people
or make them sad.
34 The Lord sees if any prisoner of the earth
is crushed under his feet.
35 He sees if someone is treated unfairly
before the Most High God.
36 The Lord sees
if someone is cheated in his case in court.
37 Nobody can speak and have it happen
unless the Lord commands it.
38 Both bad and good things
come by the command of the Most High God.
39 No man should complain
when he is punished for his sins.
40 Let us examine and look at what we have done.
Then let us return to the Lord.
41 Let us lift up our hands and pray from our hearts.
Let us say to God in heaven,
42 “We have sinned and turned against you.
And you have not forgiven us.
43 “You wrapped yourself in anger and chased us.
You killed us without mercy.
44 You wrapped yourself in a cloud.
No prayer could get through.
45 You made us like scum and trash
among the other nations.
46 “All of our enemies
open their mouths and say things against us.
47 We have been frightened and fearful.
We have been ruined and destroyed.”
48 Streams of tears flow from my eyes
because my people are destroyed.
49 My tears flow continually,
without stopping,
50 until the Lord looks down
and sees from heaven.
51 I am sad when I see
what has happened to all the women of my city.
52 Those who are my enemies for no reason
hunted me like a bird.
53 They threw me alive into a pit.
They threw stones at me.
54 Water came up over my head.
I said to myself, “I am going to die.”
55 I called out to you, Lord,
from the bottom of the pit.
56 You heard me calling, “Do not close your ears.
Do not ignore my cry for help.”
57 You came close when I called out to you.
You said, “Don’t be afraid.”
58 Lord, you have taken my case.
You have given me back my life.
59 Lord, you have seen how I have been wronged.
Now judge my case for me.
60 You have seen how my enemies took revenge on me.
You have seen all their evil plans against me.
61 Lord, you have heard their insults
and all their evil plans against me.
62 The words and thoughts of my enemies
are against me all the time.
63 Look! In everything they do
they make fun of me with songs.
64 Punish them as they should be punished, Lord.
Pay them back for what they have done.
65 Make them stubborn.
Put your curse on them.
66 Chase them in anger.
Destroy them from the Lord’s earth.
The Attack on Jerusalem
4 See how the gold has lost its shine!
See how the good gold has changed!
The stones of the Temple are scattered
at every street corner.
2 The precious people of Jerusalem
were more valuable than gold.
But now they are thought of as clay jars
made by the hands of a potter.
3 Even wild dogs give their milk
to feed their young.
But my people are cruel
like ostriches in the desert.
4 The baby is so thirsty
that his tongue sticks to the roof of his mouth.
Children beg for bread.
But no one breaks off a piece to share with them.
5 Those who once ate fine foods
are now starving in the streets.
The people who grew up wearing nice clothes
now pick through trash piles.
6 My people have been punished
more than Sodom was.
Sodom was destroyed suddenly.
No hands reached out to help her.
7 Our princes were purer than snow.
They were whiter than milk.
Their bodies were redder than rubies.
Their faces shined like sapphires.
8 But now they are blacker than coal.
No one even recognizes them in the streets.
Their skin is stretched over their bones.
It is as dry as wood.
9 Those people who were killed by the sword had it better
than those killed by hunger.
They starved in pain and died
because there was no food from the field.
10 With their own hands kind women
cooked their own children.
The children became food for their parents.
This happened when my people were destroyed.
11 The Lord turned loose all of his anger.
He poured out his strong anger.
He set fire to Jerusalem.
It burned down to the foundations.
12 Kings of the earth and people of the world
could not believe it.
They could not believe that enemies
could come through the gates of Jerusalem.
13 But it happened because her prophets had sinned.
And her priests had done evil.
They killed in the city
the people who did what was right.
14 They wandered in the streets
like blind men.
They became dirty with blood.
So no one could touch their clothes.
15 “Go away! You are unclean,” people shouted at them.
“Get away! Get away! Do not touch us!”
So they left and wandered around.
The other nations said, “Don’t stay here.”
16 The Lord himself scattered them.
He did not look after them anymore.
He did not respect the priests.
He showed no mercy to the elders.
17 Also, our eyes grew tired
looking for help that never came.
We kept watch from our towers
for a nation to save us.
18 Our enemies hunted us
so we could not even walk in the streets.
Our end came near. Our time was up.
Our end came.
19 The men who chased us
were faster than eagles in the sky.
They ran us into the mountains.
They ambushed us in the desert.
20 The Lord’s appointed king, who was our very breath,
was caught in their traps.
We had said about him, “We will be protected by him
among the nations.”
21 Be happy and glad, people of Edom,
you who live in the land of Uz.
But the Lord’s anger is like a cup of wine that you also will have to drink.
Then you will get drunk on it and make yourselves naked.
22 Your punishment is complete, Jerusalem.
He will not keep you in captivity any longer.
But the Lord will punish your wrongs, people of Edom.
He will uncover your sins.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
