Lamentations 1
Names of God Bible
The Prophet Speaks Out: No One Offers Comfort
1 [a]“Look how deserted Jerusalem is!
Once the city was crowded with people.
Once it was important among the nations.
Now it is a widow.
Once it was a princess among the provinces.
Now it does forced labor.
2 Jerusalem cries bitterly at night with tears running down its cheeks.
Out of all those who love the city, no one offers it comfort.
All of Jerusalem’s friends have betrayed it and become its enemies.
3 “Judah has been exiled after much suffering and harsh treatment.
Its people live among the nations; they find no rest.
Those who chased them caught up with them
in places where there was no way out.
4 “The roads to Zion are deserted.[b]
No one comes to the annual festivals.
No one passes through any of its gates.[c]
Its priests are groaning.
Its young women are made to suffer.
Zion is bitter.
5 Its opponents are now in control.
Its enemies have no worries.
Yahweh made Zion suffer for its many rebellious acts.
Its children go ahead of their opponents into captivity.
6 All splendor has abandoned the people of Zion.
Its influential people were like deer that couldn’t find any pasture.
They ran without any strength ahead of the hunters.
7 “Now, during its suffering and oppression,
Jerusalem remembers all the treasures it had from ancient times,
when its people fell into the power of their enemies
with no one to help them.
Their opponents looked on, and they laughed at Jerusalem’s downfall.
8 Jerusalem has sinned so much that it has become a filthy thing.
Everyone who used to honor it now despises it.
They’ve seen it naked.
Jerusalem groans and turns away.
9 Jerusalem’s own filth covers its clothes.
It gave no thought to its future.
Its downfall was shocking.
No one offers it comfort.
‘O Yahweh, look at my suffering,
because my enemies have triumphed.’
10 The enemies laid their hands on all of the city’s treasures.
Jerusalem has seen the nations enter the holy place.
‘O Lord, they are the same people
you have forbidden to enter your congregation.’
11 All the people are groaning as they beg for bread.
They trade their treasures for food to keep themselves alive.
‘O Yahweh, look and see how despised I am!’”
Zion Speaks Out: No One Offers Comfort
12 “Doesn’t this affect all of you who pass by?
Look and see if there’s any pain
like the pain that Yahweh has caused me,
like the pain that he has made me suffer on the day of his fierce anger.
13 He sent fire from above.
He made it go deep into my bones.
He spread a net for my feet.
He made me turn back.
He has left me devastated.
He has made me sick all day long.
14 My rebellious acts are a heavy burden for me.
They were tied together by Yahweh’s own hands.
They were tied around my neck.
He has weakened me with them.
Adonay has handed me over to people I cannot oppose.[d]
15 Adonay has treated all the warriors inside my walls with contempt.
He called an army to defeat my young men.
Adonay trampled the people of Judah in a winepress.
16 I’m crying because of all these things.
My eyes—my eyes flow with tears.
No one can give me the comfort I need to keep me alive.
Everyone is too far away from me.
My children are devastated because my enemies have won.”
17 Zion holds out its hands.
No one offers it comfort.
Yahweh has given this order about Jacob:
His own neighbors will become his opponents.
Jerusalem has become a filthy thing among them.
18 “Yahweh is right in what he did,
because I rebelled against his word.
Please listen, all you people, and look at my pain.
My young women and young men have gone into captivity.
19 I called for those who love me, but they betrayed me.
My priests and leaders breathed their last breath in the city,
looking for food to keep themselves alive.
20 “O Yahweh, see the distress I’m in!
My stomach is churning.
My heart is pounding because I’ve been very bitter.
In the streets swords kill my children.
Inside the houses it’s like death.
21 “All my enemies have heard that I am groaning.
No one offers me comfort.
All my enemies have heard about my disaster.
They are happy that you did it.
You have allowed the day to come, the one that you had announced.
Let my enemies be like me now.[e]
22 Recall all of their wickedness.
Then deal with them as you have dealt with me
because of all my rebellious acts.
I groan so much and feel so sick at heart.”
Footnotes
- Lamentations 1:1 Chapter 1 is a poem in Hebrew alphabetical order.
- Lamentations 1:4 Or “are in mourning.”
- Lamentations 1:4 Or “All its gates are in despair.”
- Lamentations 1:14 Hebrew meaning of this verse uncertain.
- Lamentations 1:21 Hebrew meaning of this verse uncertain.
Lamentations 1
Young's Literal Translation
1 How hath she sat alone, The city abounding with people! She hath been as a widow, The mighty among nations! Princes among provinces, She hath become tributary!
2 She weepeth sore in the night, And her tear [is] on her cheeks, There is no comforter for her out of all her lovers, All her friends dealt treacherously by her, They have been to her for enemies.
3 Removed hath Judah because of affliction, And because of the abundance of her service; She hath dwelt among nations, She hath not found rest, All her pursuers have overtaken her between the straits.
4 The ways of Zion are mourning, Without any coming at the appointed time, All her gates are desolate, her priests sigh, Her virgins are afflicted -- and she hath bitterness.
5 Her adversaries have become chief, Her enemies have been at ease, For Jehovah hath afflicted her, For the abundance of her transgressions, Her infants have gone captive before the adversary.
6 And go out from the daughter of Zion doth all her honour, Her princes have been as harts -- They have not found pasture, And they go powerless before a pursuer.
7 Remembered hath Jerusalem [In] the days of her affliction and her mournings, all her desirable things that were from the days of old, In the falling of her people into the hand of an adversary, And she hath no helper; Seen her have adversaries, They have laughed at her cessation.
8 A sin hath Jerusalem sinned, Therefore impure she hath become, All who honoured her have esteemed her lightly, For they have seen her nakedness, Yea, she herself hath sighed and turneth backward.
9 Her uncleanness [is] in her skirts, She hath not remembered her latter end, And she cometh down wonderfully, There is no comforter for her. See, O Jehovah, mine affliction, For exerted himself hath an enemy.
10 His hand spread out hath an adversary On all her desirable things, For she hath seen -- Nations have entered her sanctuary, Concerning which Thou didst command, `They do not come into the assembly to thee.'
11 All her people are sighing -- seeking bread, They have given their desirable things For food to refresh the body; See, O Jehovah, and behold attentively, For I have been lightly esteemed.
12 [Is it] nothing to you, all ye passing by the way? Look attentively, and see, If there is any pain like my pain, That He is rolling to me? Whom Jehovah hath afflicted In the day of the fierceness of His anger.
13 From above He hath sent fire into my bone, And it subdueth it, He hath spread a net for my feet, He hath turned me backward, He hath made me desolate -- all the day sick.
14 Bound hath been the yoke of my transgressions by His hand, They are wrapped together, They have gone up on my neck, He hath caused my power to stumble, The Lord hath given me into hands, I am not able to rise.
15 Trodden down all my mighty ones hath the Lord in my midst, He proclaimed against me an appointed time, To destroy my young men, A wine-press hath the Lord trodden, To the virgin daughter of Judah.
16 For these I am weeping, My eye, my eye, is running down with waters, For, far from me hath been a comforter, Refreshing my soul, My sons have been desolate, For mighty hath been an enemy.
17 Spread forth hath Zion her hands, There is no comforter for her, Jehovah hath charged concerning Jacob, His neighbours [are] his adversaries, Jerusalem hath become impure among them.
18 Righteous is Jehovah, For His mouth I have provoked. Hear, I pray you, all ye peoples, and see my pain, My virgins and my young men have gone into captivity.
19 I called for my lovers, they -- they have deceived me, My priests and my elders in the city have expired; When they have sought food for themselves, Then they give back their soul.
20 See, O Jehovah, for distress [is] to me, My bowels have been troubled, Turned hath been my heart in my midst, For I have greatly provoked, From without bereaved hath the sword, In the house [it is] as death.
21 They have heard that I have sighed, There is no comforter for me, All my enemies have heard of my calamity, They have rejoiced that Thou hast done [it], Thou hast brought in the day Thou hast called, And they are like to me.
22 Come in doth all their evil before Thee, And one is doing to them as Thou hast done to me, For all my transgressions, For many [are] my sighs, and my heart [is] sick!
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.