Lamentations 2:8-15
English Standard Version
8 (A)The Lord determined to lay in ruins
(B)the wall of the daughter of Zion;
(C)he stretched out the measuring line;
he did not restrain his hand from destroying;
(D)he caused rampart and wall to lament;
(E)they languished together.
9 Her gates have sunk into the ground;
(F)he has ruined (G)and broken her bars;
(H)her king and princes are among the nations;
the law is no more,
and (I)her prophets find
no vision from the Lord.
10 The elders of the daughter of Zion
(J)sit on the ground (K)in silence;
(L)they have thrown dust on their heads
and (M)put on sackcloth;
the young women of Jerusalem
have bowed their heads to the ground.
11 (N)My eyes are spent with weeping;
(O)my stomach churns;
(P)my bile is poured out to the ground
(Q)because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
(R)because infants and babies (S)faint
in the streets of the city.
12 They cry to their mothers,
(T)“Where is bread and wine?”
(U)as they faint like a wounded man
in the streets of the city,
as their life is poured out
on their mothers' bosom.
13 What can I say for you, (V)to what compare you,
O daughter of Jerusalem?
(W)What can I liken to you, that I may comfort you,
O virgin daughter of Zion?
(X)For your ruin is vast as the sea;
who can heal you?
14 (Y)Your prophets have seen for you
false and deceptive visions;
(Z)they have not exposed your iniquity
to (AA)restore your fortunes,
(AB)but have seen for you (AC)oracles
that are false and misleading.
15 All who pass along the way
clap their hands at you;
(AD)they hiss and wag their heads
at the daughter of Jerusalem:
“Is this the city that was called
(AE)the perfection of beauty,
(AF)the joy of all the earth?”
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.