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Zion Lays Desolate

Aleph

How (A)lonely sits the city
That was (B)great with people!
She has become like a (C)widow
Who was once (D)great among the nations!
She who was a princess among the [a]provinces
Has become a (E)forced laborer!

Beth

She (F)weeps bitterly in the night,
And her tears are on her cheeks;
She has none to comfort her
Among all her (G)lovers.
All her friends have (H)dealt treacherously with her;
They have become her enemies.

Gimel

(I)Judah has gone into exile because of affliction
And because of great slavery;
She sits (J)among the nations,
But she has found no rest;
All (K)her pursuers have overtaken her
In the midst of [b]distress.

Daleth

The roads [c]of Zion are in mourning
Because (L)no one comes to the appointed times.
All her gates are (M)desolate;
Her priests are sighing,
Her (N)virgins are grieving,
And she herself [d]is (O)bitter.

He

Her adversaries have become [e]her masters;
Her enemies are complacent;
For [f]Yahweh has (P)caused her grief
Because of the greatness of her transgressions;
Her infants have gone away
As captives before the adversary.

Vav

So all her (Q)majesty
Has gone out from the daughter of Zion;
Her princes have become like deer
That have found no pasture;
So they have [g](R)fled without strength
Before the pursuer.

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Footnotes

  1. Lamentations 1:1 Or districts
  2. Lamentations 1:3 Or narrow places
  3. Lamentations 1:4 Or to
  4. Lamentations 1:4 Or suffers bitterly
  5. Lamentations 1:5 Lit head
  6. Lamentations 1:5 The personal covenant name of God, a form of I AM WHO I AM, cf. Ex 3:14-15
  7. Lamentations 1:6 Lit gone