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The Deserted City

How lonely sits the city
    that once was full of people!
How like a widow she has become,
    she that was great among the nations!
She that was a princess among the provinces
    has become subject to forced labor.(A)

She weeps bitterly in the night,
    with tears on her cheeks;
among all her lovers,
    she has no one to comfort her;
all her friends have dealt treacherously with her;
    they have become her enemies.(B)

Judah has gone into exile with suffering
    and hard servitude;
she lives now among the nations;
    she finds no resting place;
her pursuers have all overtaken her
    in the midst of her distress.(C)

The roads to Zion mourn,
    for no one comes to the festivals;
all her gates are desolate;
    her priests groan;
her young girls grieve,[a]
    and her lot is bitter.(D)

Her foes have become the masters;
    her enemies prosper
because the Lord has made her suffer
    for the multitude of her transgressions;
her children have gone away,
    captives before the foe.(E)

From daughter Zion has departed
    all her majesty.
Her princes have become like stags
    that find no pasture;
they fled without strength
    before the pursuer.(F)

Jerusalem remembers[b] all the precious things
    that were hers in days of old.
When her people fell into the hand of the enemy
    and there was no one to help her,
the enemy looked on;
    they mocked over her downfall.(G)

Jerusalem sinned grievously,
    so she has become a filthy thing;
all who honored her despise her,
    for they have seen her nakedness;
she herself groans
    and turns her face away.(H)

Her uncleanness was in her skirts;
    she took no thought of her future;
her downfall was appalling,
    with none to comfort her.
Look, O Lord, at my affliction,
    for the enemy has triumphed!(I)

10 Enemies have stretched out their hands
    over all her precious things;
she has even seen the nations
    invade her sanctuary,
those whom you forbade
    to enter your congregation.(J)

11 All her people groan
    as they search for bread;
they trade their treasures for food
    to revive their lives.
Look, O Lord, and see
    how worthless I have become.(K)

12 Is it nothing to you,[c] all you who pass by?
    Look and see
if there is any sorrow like my sorrow,
    which was brought upon me,
which the Lord inflicted
    on the day of his fierce anger.(L)

13 From on high he sent fire;
    it went deep into my bones;
he spread a net for my feet;
    he turned me back;
he has left me stunned,
    faint all day long.(M)

14 My transgressions were bound[d] into a yoke;
    by his hand they were fastened together;
they weigh on my neck,
    sapping my strength;
the Lord handed me over
    to those whom I cannot withstand.(N)

15 The Lord has rejected
    all my warriors in the midst of me;
he proclaimed a time against me
    to crush my young men;
the Lord has trodden as in a winepress
    the virgin daughter Judah.(O)

16 For these things I weep;
    my eyes[e] flow with tears;
for a comforter is far from me,
    one to revive my courage;
my children are desolate,
    for the enemy has prevailed.(P)

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Footnotes

  1. 1.4 Meaning of Heb uncertain
  2. 1.7 Q ms: MT adds in the days of her affliction and wandering
  3. 1.12 Meaning of Heb uncertain
  4. 1.14 Meaning of Heb uncertain
  5. 1.16 Heb my eye, my eye