Lamentations 2:10-19

Complete Jewish Bible

¹⁰ The leaders of the daughter of Tziyon
sit on the ground in silence.
They throw dust on their heads;
they are wearing sackcloth.
The unmarried women of Yerushalayim
lower their heads to the ground.
¹¹ My eyes are worn out from weeping,
everything in me is churning;
I am empty of emotion
because of the wounds to my people,
because children and infants are fainting away
in the streets of the city.

¹² They keep asking their mothers,
“Where is something to eat or drink?”
as they faint away
in the streets of the city,
gasping out their last breath
in their mother’s bosom.

¹³ What can be said to you, what can be compared with you,
daughter of Yerushalayim?
What example can I give to comfort you,
virgin daughter of Tziyon?
For your downfall is as vast as the sea;
who can heal you?

¹⁴ The visions your prophets saw for you
were futile, just a whitewash.
They did not expose your guilt,
    so as to reverse your fortunes —
    no, the visions they saw for you
    were alluring, but futile.

¹⁵ All who pass your way
clap their hands at you,
hissing and shaking their heads
at the daughter of Yerushalayim:
“This city was called ‘perfection in beauty’?
‘the joy of the whole earth’?”

¹⁶ All your adversaries
open their mouths to jeer at you.
They hiss, they grind their teeth;
they say, “We have swallowed her up!
This is the day we were waiting for,
and now we have lived to see it!”

¹⁷ Adonai has done what he planned,
he has fulfilled his promise,
which he decreed in ancient times.
He has destroyed without pity,
he has let the enemy gloat over you
and filled your foes with pride.
¹⁸ Their hearts cried out to Adonai,
“Wall of the daughter of Tziyon!
Let your tears stream down
like a torrent, day and night!
Give yourself no respite,
give your eyes no rest!

¹⁹ “Get up! Cry out in the night,
at the beginning of every watch!
Pour your heart out like water
before the face of Adonai!
Lift up your hands to him
for the lives of your babies,
who are fainting away from hunger
at every streetcorner.”