2 ^[a]How the Lord has covered Daughter Zion
    with the cloud of his anger^[b]!^(A)
He has hurled down the splendor of Israel
    from heaven to earth;
he has not remembered his footstool^(B)
    in the day of his anger.^(C)

² Without pity^(D) the Lord has swallowed^(E) up
    all the dwellings of Jacob;
in his wrath he has torn down
    the strongholds^(F) of Daughter Judah.
He has brought her kingdom and its princes
    down to the ground^(G) in dishonor.

³ In fierce anger he has cut off
    every horn^[c][d](H) of Israel.
He has withdrawn his right hand^(I)
    at the approach of the enemy.
He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire
    that consumes everything around it.^(J)

⁴ Like an enemy he has strung his bow;^(K)
    his right hand is ready.
Like a foe he has slain
    all who were pleasing to the eye;^(L)
he has poured out his wrath^(M) like fire^(N)
    on the tent^(O) of Daughter Zion.

⁵ The Lord is like an enemy;^(P)
    he has swallowed up Israel.
He has swallowed up all her palaces
    and destroyed her strongholds.^(Q)
He has multiplied mourning and lamentation^(R)
    for Daughter Judah.^(S)

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

⁷ The Lord has rejected his altar
    and abandoned his sanctuary.^(X)
He has given the walls of her palaces^(Y)
    into the hands of the enemy;
they have raised a shout in the house of the Lord
    as on the day of an appointed festival.^(Z)

⁸ The Lord determined to tear down
    the wall around Daughter Zion.^(AA)
He stretched out a measuring line^(AB)
    and did not withhold his hand from destroying.
He made ramparts^(AC) and walls lament;
    together they wasted away.^(AD)

¹⁷ The Lord has done what he planned;
    he has fulfilled^(A) his word,
    which he decreed long ago.^(B)
He has overthrown you without pity,^(C)
    he has let the enemy gloat over you,^(D)
    he has exalted the horn^[a] of your foes.^(E)

¹⁸ The hearts of the people
    cry out to the Lord.^(F)
You walls of Daughter Zion,^(G)
    let your tears^(H) flow like a river
    day and night;^(I)
give yourself no relief,
    your eyes no rest.^(J)

¹⁹ Arise, cry out in the night,
    as the watches of the night begin;
pour out your heart^(K) like water
    in the presence of the Lord.^(L)
Lift up your hands^(M) to him
    for the lives of your children,
who faint^(N) from hunger
    at every street corner.

²⁰ “Look, Lord, and consider:
    Whom have you ever treated like this?
Should women eat their offspring,^(O)
    the children they have cared for?^(P)
Should priest and prophet be killed^(Q)
    in the sanctuary of the Lord?^(R)

²¹ “Young and old lie together
    in the dust of the streets;
my young men and young women
    have fallen by the sword.^(S)
You have slain them in the day of your anger;
    you have slaughtered them without pity.^(T)

²² “As you summon to a feast day,
    so you summoned against me terrors^(U) on every side.
In the day of the Lord’s anger
    no one escaped^(V) or survived;
those I cared for and reared^(W)
    my enemy has destroyed.”