1 How ^(A)lonely sits the city
That was ^(B)great with people!
She has become like a ^(C)widow
Who was once ^(D)great among the nations!
She who was a princess among the ^[a]provinces
Has become a ^(E)forced laborer!

² She ^(F)weeps bitterly in the night,
And her tears are on her cheeks;
She has none to comfort her
Among all her ^(G)lovers.
All her friends have ^(H)dealt treacherously with her;
They have become her enemies.

^3 (I)Judah has gone into exile because of affliction
And because of great slavery;
She sits ^(J)among the nations,
But she has found no rest;
All ^(K)her pursuers have overtaken her
In the midst of ^[b]distress.

⁴ The roads ^[c]of Zion are in mourning
Because ^(L)no one comes to the appointed times.
All her gates are ^(M)desolate;
Her priests are sighing,
Her ^(N)virgins are grieving,
And she herself ^[d]is ^(O)bitter.

⁵ Her adversaries have become ^[e]her masters;
Her enemies are complacent;
For ^[f]Yahweh has ^(P)caused her grief
Because of the greatness of her transgressions;
Her infants have gone away
As captives before the adversary.

⁶ So all her ^(Q)majesty
Has gone out from the daughter of Zion;
Her princes have become like deer
That have found no pasture;
So they have ^[g](R)fled without strength
Before the pursuer.

⁷ In the days of her affliction and homelessness
^(S)Jerusalem remembers all her precious things
That were from the days of old,
When her people fell into the hand of the adversary
And ^(T)no one helped her.
The adversaries saw her;
They ^(U)laughed at her ^[h]ruin.

⁸ Jerusalem sinned ^(V)greatly;
Therefore ^(W)she has become an impure thing.
All who honored her despise her
Because they have seen her nakedness;
Even ^(X)she herself sighs and turns away.

⁹ Her ^(Y)uncleanness was in her skirts;
She did not remember her ^(Z)future.
Therefore she has ^(AA)gone down astonishingly;
^(AB)She has no comforter.
“^(AC)See, O Yahweh, my affliction,
For the enemy has ^(AD)magnified himself!”

¹⁰ The adversary has stretched out his hand
Over all her desirable things,
For she has seen the ^(AE)nations enter her sanctuary,
The ones whom You commanded
That they should ^(AF)not enter into Your assembly.

¹¹ All her people are sighing, ^(AG)seeking bread;
They have given their desirable things for food
To ^(AH)restore their souls.
“See, O Yahweh, and look,
For I am ^(AI)despised.”

¹² “Is ^(AJ)it nothing to all you who pass this way?
Look and see if there is any ^[i]pain like my ^[j]pain
Which was dealt severely to me,
Which ^(AK)Yahweh grieved me with on the day of His ^(AL)burning anger.

¹³ From on high He sent fire into my ^(AM)bones,
And it dominated them.
He has spread a ^(AN)net for my feet;
He has turned me back;
He has made me ^(AO)desolate,
^[k]Faint all day long.

¹⁴ The ^(AP)yoke of my transgressions is bound;
By His hand they are knit together.
They have ^(AQ)come upon my neck;
He has made my strength stumble.
The Lord ^(AR)has given me into the hands
Of those against whom I am not able to stand.

¹⁵ The ^(AS)Lord has rejected all my mighty men
In my midst;
He has called an appointed time against me
To break my ^(AT)young men;
The Lord has ^(AU)trodden as in a wine press
The virgin daughter of Judah.

¹⁶ For these things I ^(AV)am weeping;
^[l]My eyes run down with water;
Because far from me is a ^(AW)comforter,
One who restores my soul.
My children are desolate
Because the enemy has prevailed.”

¹⁷ Zion ^(AX)stretches out her hands;
There is no one to comfort her;
Yahweh has ^(AY)commanded concerning Jacob
That the ones round about him should be his adversaries;
^(AZ)Jerusalem has become an impure thing among them.

¹⁸ “Yahweh is ^(BA)righteous;
For I have ^(BB)rebelled against His ^[m]command;
Hear now, all peoples,
And ^(BC)behold my ^[n]pain;
^(BD)My virgins and my young men
Have gone into captivity.

¹⁹ I ^(BE)called to my lovers, but they deceived me;
My ^(BF)priests and my elders breathed their last in the city
While they sought food for themselves in order to ^(BG)restore their souls.

²⁰ See, O Yahweh, for I am in distress;
My ^[o](BH)inmost being is greatly disturbed;
My heart is overturned within me,
For I have been very ^(BI)rebellious.
In the street the sword bereaves;
In the house it is like death.

²¹ They have heard that I ^(BJ)am sighing;
There is no one to comfort me;
All my enemies have heard of the ^[p]evil done to me;
They ^(BK)rejoice that You have done it.
You have brought the day which You have proclaimed,
So that they will become ^(BL)like me.

²² Let all their evil come before You;
And ^(BM)deal severely with them as You have dealt severely with me
For all my transgressions;
For my groans are great and my heart is faint.”