²⁰ My tent^(A) is destroyed;
    all its ropes are snapped.
My children are gone from me and are no more;^(B)
    no one is left now to pitch my tent
    or to set up my shelter.

²⁰ Disaster follows disaster;^(A)
    the whole land lies in ruins.^(B)
In an instant my tents^(C) are destroyed,
    my shelter in a moment.

“A voice is heard in Ramah,^(A)
    mourning and great weeping,
Rachel weeping for her children
    and refusing to be comforted,^(B)
    because they are no more.”^(C)

²⁰ The children born during your bereavement
    will yet say in your hearing,
‘This place is too small for us;
    give us more space to live in.’^(A)
21 Then you will say in your heart,
    ‘Who bore me these?^(B)
I was bereaved^(C) and barren;
    I was exiled and rejected.^(D)
    Who brought these^(E) up?
I was left^(F) all alone,^(G)
    but these—where have they come from?’”

“See, I will beckon to the nations,
    I will lift up my banner^(I) to the peoples;
they will bring^(J) your sons in their arms
    and carry your daughters on their hips.^(K)

⁴ Like an enemy he has strung his bow;^(A)
    his right hand is ready.
Like a foe he has slain
    all who were pleasing to the eye;^(B)
he has poured out his wrath^(C) like fire^(D)
    on the tent^(E) of Daughter Zion.

⁵ The Lord is like an enemy;^(F)
    he has swallowed up Israel.
He has swallowed up all her palaces
    and destroyed her strongholds.^(G)
He has multiplied mourning and lamentation^(H)
    for Daughter Judah.^(I)

⁶ He has laid waste his dwelling like a garden;
    he has destroyed^(J) his place of meeting.^(K)
The Lord has made Zion forget
    her appointed festivals and her Sabbaths;^(L)
in his fierce anger he has spurned
    both king and priest.^(M)

⁵ Her foes have become her masters;
    her enemies are at ease.
The Lord has brought her grief^(A)
    because of her many sins.^(B)
Her children have gone into exile,^(C)
    captive before the foe.^(D)

¹⁶ I have put my words in your mouth^(A)
    and covered you with the shadow of my hand^(B)—
I who set the heavens in place,
    who laid the foundations of the earth,^(C)
    and who say to Zion, ‘You are my people.^(D)’”

⁷ The wicked are overthrown and are no more,^(A)
    but the house of the righteous stands firm.^(B)