¹⁰ Your holy cities are destroyed.
    Zion is a wilderness;
    yes, Jerusalem is a desolate ruin.

⁷ Your country lies in ruins,
    and your towns are burned.
Foreigners plunder your fields before your eyes
    and destroy everything they see.

¹² Because of you, Mount Zion will be plowed like an open field;
    Jerusalem will be reduced to ruins!
A thicket will grow on the heights
    where the Temple now stands.

¹⁸ For Jerusalem^[a] is empty and desolate,
    a place haunted by jackals.

⁴ He bends his bow against his people,
    as though he were their enemy.
His strength is used against them
    to kill their finest youth.
His fury is poured out like fire
    on beautiful Jerusalem.^[a]

⁵ Yes, the Lord has vanquished Israel
    like an enemy.
He has destroyed her palaces
    and demolished her fortresses.
He has brought unending sorrow and tears
    upon beautiful Jerusalem.

⁶ He has broken down his Temple
    as though it were merely a garden shelter.
The Lord has blotted out all memory
    of the holy festivals and Sabbath days.
Kings and priests fall together
    before his fierce anger.

⁷ The Lord has rejected his own altar;
    he despises his own sanctuary.
He has given Jerusalem’s palaces
    to her enemies.
They shout in the Lord’s Temple
    as though it were a day of celebration.

⁸ The Lord was determined
    to destroy the walls of beautiful Jerusalem.
He made careful plans for their destruction,
    then did what he had planned.
Therefore, the ramparts and walls
    have fallen down before him.