34 Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath filled his belly with my delicates, he hath cast me out.

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34 “Nebuchadnezzar(A) king of Babylon has devoured(B) us,(C)
    he has thrown us into confusion,
    he has made us an empty jar.
Like a serpent he has swallowed us
    and filled his stomach with our delicacies,
    and then has spewed(D) us out.

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17 Israel is a scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away: first the king of Assyria hath devoured him; and last this Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones.

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17 “Israel is a scattered flock(A)
    that lions(B) have chased away.
The first to devour(C) them
    was the king(D) of Assyria;
the last to crush their bones(E)
    was Nebuchadnezzar(F) king(G) of Babylon.”

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44 And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he hath swallowed up: and the nations shall not flow together any more unto him: yea, the wall of Babylon shall fall.

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44 I will punish Bel(A) in Babylon
    and make him spew out(B) what he has swallowed.
The nations will no longer stream to him.
    And the wall(C) of Babylon will fall.

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13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.

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Seven Woes on the Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees

13 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!(A) You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.(B)

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24 Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.

And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him.

The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the Lord hath spoken this word.

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The Lord’s Devastation of the Earth

24 See, the Lord is going to lay waste the earth(A)
    and devastate(B) it;
he will ruin its face
    and scatter(C) its inhabitants—
it will be the same
    for priest as for people,(D)
    for the master as for his servant,
    for the mistress as for her servant,
    for seller as for buyer,(E)
    for borrower as for lender,
    for debtor as for creditor.(F)
The earth will be completely laid waste(G)
    and totally plundered.(H)
The Lord has spoken(I) this word.

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15 He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly.

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15 He will spit out the riches(A) he swallowed;
    God will make his stomach vomit(B) them up.

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For the Lord hath turned away the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel: for the emptiers have emptied them out, and marred their vine branches.

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The Lord will restore(A) the splendor(B) of Jacob
    like the splendor of Israel,
though destroyers have laid them waste
    and have ruined their vines.

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Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail,

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Hear this, you who trample the needy
    and do away with the poor(A) of the land,(B)

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Therefore prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that ye might be a possession unto the residue of the heathen, and ye are taken up in the lips of talkers, and are an infamy of the people:

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Therefore prophesy and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because they ravaged(A) and crushed you from every side so that you became the possession of the rest of the nations and the object of people’s malicious talk and slander,(B)

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16 All thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee: they hiss and gnash the teeth: they say, We have swallowed her up: certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen it.

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16 All your enemies open their mouths
    wide against you;(A)
they scoff and gnash their teeth(B)
    and say, “We have swallowed her up.(C)
This is the day we have waited for;
    we have lived to see it.”(D)

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Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold: for there is none end of the store and glory out of all the pleasant furniture.

10 She is empty, and void, and waste: and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and much pain is in all loins, and the faces of them all gather blackness.

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Plunder the silver!
    Plunder the gold!
The supply is endless,
    the wealth from all its treasures!
10 She is pillaged, plundered, stripped!
    Hearts melt,(A) knees give way,
    bodies tremble, every face grows pale.(B)

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14 The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand: they are wreathed, and come up upon my neck: he hath made my strength to fall, the Lord hath delivered me into their hands, from whom I am not able to rise up.

15 The Lord hath trodden under foot all my mighty men in the midst of me: he hath called an assembly against me to crush my young men: the Lord hath trodden the virgin, the daughter of Judah, as in a winepress.

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14 “My sins have been bound into a yoke[a];(A)
    by his hands they were woven together.
They have been hung on my neck,
    and the Lord has sapped my strength.
He has given me into the hands(B)
    of those I cannot withstand.

15 “The Lord has rejected
    all the warriors in my midst;(C)
he has summoned an army(D) against me
    to[b] crush my young men.(E)
In his winepress(F) the Lord has trampled(G)
    Virgin Daughter(H) Judah.

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Footnotes

  1. Lamentations 1:14 Most Hebrew manuscripts; many Hebrew manuscripts and Septuagint He kept watch over my sins
  2. Lamentations 1:15 Or has set a time for me / when he will

How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary!

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[a]How deserted(A) lies the city,
    once so full of people!(B)
How like a widow(C) is she,
    who once was great(D) among the nations!
She who was queen among the provinces
    has now become a slave.(E)

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Footnotes

  1. Lamentations 1:1 This chapter is an acrostic poem, the verses of which begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.