Lamentations 1:12-2:8

English Standard Version

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

² The Lord ^(AG)has swallowed up ^(AH)without mercy
    all the habitations of Jacob;
in his wrath ^(AI)he has broken down
    the strongholds of the daughter of Judah;
he has brought ^(AJ)down to the ground ^(AK)in dishonor
    the kingdom ^(AL)and its rulers.

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^(AO)he has withdrawn from them his right hand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

^4 (AQ)He has bent his bow like an enemy,
    with his right hand set ^(AR)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 (AS)The Lord has become like an enemy;
    ^(AT)he has swallowed up Israel;
^(AU)he has swallowed up all its palaces;
    he has laid in ruins its strongholds,
and he has multiplied in the daughter of Judah
    ^(AV)mourning and lamentation.

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

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

^8 (BD)The Lord determined to lay in ruins
    ^(BE)the wall of the daughter of Zion;
^(BF)he stretched out the measuring line;
    he did not restrain his hand from destroying;
^(BG)he caused rampart and wall to lament;
    ^(BH)they languished together.