Lamentations 1-2
New American Standard Bible
The Sorrows of Zion
1 How (A)lonely sits the city
That once had (B)many 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 no one 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 out of affliction
And [b]harsh servitude;
She lives (J)among the nations,
But she has not found a resting place;
All those who (K)pursued her have overtaken her
In the midst of [c]distress.
4 The roads [d]of Zion are in mourning
Because (L)no one comes to an appointed feast.
All her gates are (M)deserted;
Her priests groan,
Her (N)virgins are worried,
And as for Zion herself, it is (O)bitter for her.
5 Her adversaries have become [e]her masters,
Her enemies are [f]secure;
For the Lord has [g](P)caused her grief
Because of the multitude of her wrongdoings;
Her little ones have gone away
As captives [h]led by the enemy.
6 All of her (Q)splendor
Is gone from the daughter of Zion;
Her leaders have become like deer
That have found no pasture,
And they have [i](R)fled without strength
[j]From the pursuer.
7 In the days of her affliction and homelessness
(S)Jerusalem remembers all her treasures
That were hers since 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 [k]ruin.
8 Jerusalem sinned (V)greatly,
Therefore (W)she has become an [l]object of ridicule.
All who honored her despise her
Because they have seen her nakedness;
Even (X)she herself groans and turns away.
9 Her (Y)uncleanness was in her garment’s seams;
She [m]did not think of her (Z)future.
So she has [n](AA)fallen in an astonishing way;
(AB)She has no comforter.
“(AC)See, Lord, my affliction,
For the enemy has [o](AD)honored himself!”
10 The adversary has stretched out his hand
Over all her precious things,
For she has seen the (AE)nations enter her sanctuary,
The ones whom You commanded
That they were (AF)not to enter Your congregation.
11 All her people groan, (AG)seeking bread;
They have given their treasures for food
To (AH)restore their [p]lives.
“See, Lord, and look,
For I am (AI)despised.”
12 “Is it (AJ)nothing to all you who pass this way?
Look and see if there is any pain like my pain
Which was inflicted on me,
With which the (AK)Lord tormented me on the day of His (AL)fierce anger.
13 From [q]the height 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,
[r]Faint all day long.
14 The (AP)yoke of my wrongdoings is bound;
By His hand they are woven together.
They have (AQ)come upon my neck;
He has made my strength [s]fail.
The Lord (AR)has handed me over
To those against whom I am not able to stand.
15 The (AS)Lord has thrown away all my strong men
In my midst;
He has called an appointed [t]time against me
To crush 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)weep;
[u]My eyes run down with water;
Because far from me is a (AW)comforter,
One to restore my soul.
My children are desolate
Because the enemy has prevailed.”
17 Zion (AX)stretches out with her hands;
There is no one to comfort her;
The Lord has (AY)commanded regarding Jacob
That those around him become his adversaries;
(AZ)Jerusalem has become a filthy thing among them.
18 “The Lord is (BA)righteous,
For I have (BB)rebelled against His [v]command;
Hear now, all peoples,
And (BC)see my pain;
(BD)My virgins and my young men
Have gone into captivity.
19 I (BE)called to my lovers, but they deserted me;
My (BF)priests and my elders perished in the city
While they sought food to (BG)restore their [w]strength themselves.
20 See, Lord, for I am in distress;
My [x](BH)spirit is greatly troubled;
My heart is overturned within me,
For I have been very (BI)rebellious.
In the street the sword has made women childless;
In the house it is like death.
21 They have heard that I (BJ)groan;
There is no one to comfort me,
All my enemies have heard of my disaster;
They are (BK)joyful that You have done it.
Oh, that You would bring the day which You have proclaimed,
So that they will become (BL)like me.
22 May all their wickedness come before You;
And (BM)deal with them just as You have dealt with me
For all my wrongdoings.
For my groans are many and my heart is faint.”
God’s Anger over Israel
2 How the Lord has [y](BN)covered the daughter of Zion
With a cloud in His anger!
He has (BO)hurled
The (BP)glory of Israel from heaven to earth,
And has not remembered His (BQ)footstool
In the day of His anger.
2 The Lord has [z](BR)destroyed; He has not spared
All the settlements of Jacob.
In His wrath He has (BS)overthrown
The strongholds of the daughter of Judah,
He has (BT)hurled them down to the ground;
He has (BU)profaned the kingdom and its leaders.
3 In fierce anger He has cut off
[aa]All the (BV)strength of Israel;
He has (BW)pulled back His right hand
From the enemy.
And He has (BX)burned in Jacob like a flaming fire
Consuming on all sides.
4 He has bent His (BY)bow like an enemy;
His right hand is positioned like an adversary,
And He has killed everything that was (BZ)pleasant to the eye.
In the tent of the daughter of Zion
He has (CA)poured out His wrath like fire.
5 The Lord has become like an (CB)enemy.
He has (CC)engulfed Israel;
He has engulfed all its (CD)palaces,
He has destroyed its strongholds
And (CE)caused great mourning and grieving in the daughter of Judah.
6 And He has treated His [ab]tabernacle violently, like a despised garden;
He has (CF)destroyed His appointed [ac]meeting place.
The Lord has (CG)caused
The appointed feast and Sabbath in Zion to be forgotten,
And He has (CH)despised king and priest
In the indignation of His anger.
7 The Lord has (CI)rejected His altar,
He has [ad]repudiated His sanctuary;
He (CJ)has handed over
The walls of her palaces to the enemy.
They have made a (CK)noise in the house of the Lord
As on the day of an appointed feast.
8 The Lord determined to destroy
The wall of the daughter of Zion.
He has (CL)stretched out a line,
He has not restrained His hand from [ae]destroying,
And He has (CM)caused rampart and wall to mourn;
They have languished together.
9 Her (CN)gates have sunk into the ground,
He has destroyed and broken her bars.
Her king and her leaders are among the nations;
The (CO)Law is gone.
Her prophets, too, find
(CP)No vision from the Lord.
10 The elders of the daughter of Zion
(CQ)Sit on the ground and [af](CR)are silent.
They have thrown (CS)dust on their heads;
They have put on (CT)sackcloth.
The (CU)virgins of Jerusalem
Have bowed their heads to the ground.
11 My (CV)eyes fail because of tears,
My [ag](CW)spirit is greatly troubled;
My [ah](CX)heart is poured out on the earth
(CY)Because of the [ai]destruction of the daughter of my people,
When (CZ)little ones and infants languish
In the streets of the city.
12 They say to their mothers,
“(DA)Where is grain and wine?”
As they faint like a wounded person
In the streets of the city,
As their (DB)lives are poured out
[aj]In their mothers’ arms.
13 How shall I admonish you?
What (DC)shall I compare to you,
Daughter of Jerusalem?
What shall I liken to you as I comfort you,
(DD)Virgin daughter of Zion?
For your collapse is as vast as the sea;
Who can (DE)heal you?
14 Your (DF)prophets have seen for you
Worthless and deceptive visions;
And they have not (DG)exposed your wrongdoing
So as to restore you from captivity,
But they have (DH)seen for you worthless and misleading pronouncements.
15 All who pass along the way
(DI)Clap their hands in ridicule at you;
They (DJ)[ak]hiss and shake their heads
At the daughter of Jerusalem:
“Is this the city of which they said,
‘(DK)Perfect in beauty,
(DL)A joy to all the earth’?”
16 All (DM)your enemies
Have opened their mouths wide against you;
They [al]hiss and (DN)gnash their teeth.
They say, “We have (DO)engulfed her!
This certainly is the (DP)day which we awaited;
We have reached it, we have seen it!”
17 The Lord has (DQ)done what He determined;
He has accomplished His word
Which He commanded from days of old.
He has torn down (DR)without sparing,
And He has helped the enemy to (DS)rejoice over you;
He has (DT)exalted the [am]might of your adversaries.
18 Their (DU)heart cried out to the Lord:
“You (DV)wall of the daughter of Zion,
Let your (DW)tears stream down like a river day and night;
Give yourself no relief,
Let [an]your eyes have no rest.
19 Arise, whimper in the (DX)night
At the beginning of the night watches;
(DY)Pour out your heart like water
Before the presence of the Lord;
Raise your hands to Him
For the (DZ)life of your little ones
Who (EA)languish because of hunger
At the head of every street.
20 See, Lord, and look!
With (EB)whom have You dealt this way?
Should women really (EC)eat their [ao]children,
The little ones who were [ap]born healthy?
Should (ED)priest and prophet really be killed
In the sanctuary of the Lord?
21 On the ground in the streets
Lie (EE)young and old;
My (EF)virgins and my young men
Have fallen by the sword.
You have put them to death on the day of Your anger,
You have slaughtered, (EG)without sparing.
22 You called as on the day of an appointed feast
My (EH)terrors on every side;
And there was (EI)no one who survived or escaped
On the day of the Lord’s anger.
As for those (EJ)whom I brought forth healthy and whom I raised,
My enemy annihilated them.”
Footnotes
- Lamentations 1:1 Or districts
- Lamentations 1:3 Lit great
- Lamentations 1:3 Or narrow places
- Lamentations 1:4 Or to
- Lamentations 1:5 Lit head
- Lamentations 1:5 Or at ease
- Lamentations 1:5 Or tormented her
- Lamentations 1:5 Lit before
- Lamentations 1:6 Lit gone
- Lamentations 1:6 Lit Before
- Lamentations 1:7 Lit cessation
- Lamentations 1:8 Or abomination
- Lamentations 1:9 Or remember her final end
- Lamentations 1:9 Lit gone down
- Lamentations 1:9 Or boasted
- Lamentations 1:11 Lit soul
- Lamentations 1:13 I.e., heaven
- Lamentations 1:13 Or Sick
- Lamentations 1:14 Lit falter
- Lamentations 1:15 Another reading is feast
- Lamentations 1:16 Lit My eye, my eye
- Lamentations 1:18 Lit mouth
- Lamentations 1:19 Lit soul
- Lamentations 1:20 Lit inward parts are in ferment
- Lamentations 2:1 Or scorned...Zion in His anger
- Lamentations 2:2 Lit engulfed
- Lamentations 2:3 Lit Every horn
- Lamentations 2:6 Or booth
- Lamentations 2:6 Or feast
- Lamentations 2:7 I.e., scornfully rejected
- Lamentations 2:8 Lit engulfing
- Lamentations 2:10 Another reading is wail
- Lamentations 2:11 Lit inward parts are in ferment
- Lamentations 2:11 Lit liver
- Lamentations 2:11 Lit breaking
- Lamentations 2:12 Lit on...breast
- Lamentations 2:15 Or whistle
- Lamentations 2:16 Or whistle
- Lamentations 2:17 Lit horn
- Lamentations 2:18 Lit the daughter of your eye
- Lamentations 2:20 Lit fruit
- Lamentations 2:20 Or tenderly cared for
Lamentations 1-2
New Living Translation
Sorrow in Jerusalem
1 Jerusalem, once so full of people,
is now deserted.
She who was once great among the nations
now sits alone like a widow.
Once the queen of all the earth,
she is now a slave.
2 She sobs through the night;
tears stream down her cheeks.
Among all her lovers,
there is no one left to comfort her.
All her friends have betrayed her
and become her enemies.
3 Judah has been led away into captivity,
oppressed with cruel slavery.
She lives among foreign nations
and has no place of rest.
Her enemies have chased her down,
and she has nowhere to turn.
4 The roads to Jerusalem[a] are in mourning,
for crowds no longer come to celebrate the festivals.
The city gates are silent,
her priests groan,
her young women are crying—
how bitter is her fate!
5 Her oppressors have become her masters,
and her enemies prosper,
for the Lord has punished Jerusalem
for her many sins.
Her children have been captured
and taken away to distant lands.
6 All the majesty of beautiful Jerusalem[b]
has been stripped away.
Her princes are like starving deer
searching for pasture.
They are too weak to run
from the pursuing enemy.
7 In the midst of her sadness and wandering,
Jerusalem remembers her ancient splendor.
But now she has fallen to her enemy,
and there is no one to help her.
Her enemy struck her down
and laughed as she fell.
8 Jerusalem has sinned greatly,
so she has been tossed away like a filthy rag.
All who once honored her now despise her,
for they have seen her stripped naked and humiliated.
All she can do is groan
and hide her face.
9 She defiled herself with immorality
and gave no thought to her future.
Now she lies in the gutter
with no one to lift her out.
“Lord, see my misery,” she cries.
“The enemy has triumphed.”
10 The enemy has plundered her completely,
taking every precious thing she owns.
She has seen foreigners violate her sacred Temple,
the place the Lord had forbidden them to enter.
11 Her people groan as they search for bread.
They have sold their treasures for food to stay alive.
“O Lord, look,” she mourns,
“and see how I am despised.
12 “Does it mean nothing to you, all you who pass by?
Look around and see if there is any suffering like mine,
which the Lord brought on me
when he erupted in fierce anger.
13 “He has sent fire from heaven that burns in my bones.
He has placed a trap in my path and turned me back.
He has left me devastated,
racked with sickness all day long.
14 “He wove my sins into ropes
to hitch me to a yoke of captivity.
The Lord sapped my strength and turned me over to my enemies;
I am helpless in their hands.
15 “The Lord has treated my mighty men
with contempt.
At his command a great army has come
to crush my young warriors.
The Lord has trampled his beloved city[c]
like grapes are trampled in a winepress.
16 “For all these things I weep;
tears flow down my cheeks.
No one is here to comfort me;
any who might encourage me are far away.
My children have no future,
for the enemy has conquered us.”
17 Jerusalem reaches out for help,
but no one comforts her.
Regarding his people Israel,[d]
the Lord has said,
“Let their neighbors be their enemies!
Let them be thrown away like a filthy rag!”
18 “The Lord is right,” Jerusalem says,
“for I rebelled against him.
Listen, people everywhere;
look upon my anguish and despair,
for my sons and daughters
have been taken captive to distant lands.
19 “I begged my allies for help,
but they betrayed me.
My priests and leaders
starved to death in the city,
even as they searched for food
to save their lives.
20 “Lord, see my anguish!
My heart is broken
and my soul despairs,
for I have rebelled against you.
In the streets the sword kills,
and at home there is only death.
21 “Others heard my groans,
but no one turned to comfort me.
When my enemies heard about my troubles,
they were happy to see what you had done.
Oh, bring the day you promised,
when they will suffer as I have suffered.
22 “Look at all their evil deeds, Lord.
Punish them,
as you have punished me
for all my sins.
My groans are many,
and I am sick at heart.”
God’s Anger at Sin
2 The Lord in his anger
has cast a dark shadow over beautiful Jerusalem.[e]
The fairest of Israel’s cities lies in the dust,
thrown down from the heights of heaven.
In his day of great anger,
the Lord has shown no mercy even to his Temple.[f]
2 Without mercy the Lord has destroyed
every home in Israel.[g]
In his anger he has broken down
the fortress walls of beautiful Jerusalem.[h]
He has brought them to the ground,
dishonoring the kingdom and its rulers.
3 All the strength of Israel
vanishes beneath his fierce anger.
The Lord has withdrawn his protection
as the enemy attacks.
He consumes the whole land of Israel
like a raging fire.
4 He bends his bow against his people,
as though he were their enemy.
His strength is used against them
to kill their finest youth.
His fury is poured out like fire
on beautiful Jerusalem.[i]
5 Yes, the Lord has vanquished Israel
like an enemy.
He has destroyed her palaces
and demolished her fortresses.
He has brought unending sorrow and tears
upon beautiful Jerusalem.
6 He has broken down his Temple
as though it were merely a garden shelter.
The Lord has blotted out all memory
of the holy festivals and Sabbath days.
Kings and priests fall together
before his fierce anger.
7 The Lord has rejected his own altar;
he despises his own sanctuary.
He has given Jerusalem’s palaces
to her enemies.
They shout in the Lord’s Temple
as though it were a day of celebration.
8 The Lord was determined
to destroy the walls of beautiful Jerusalem.
He made careful plans for their destruction,
then did what he had planned.
Therefore, the ramparts and walls
have fallen down before him.
9 Jerusalem’s gates have sunk into the ground.
He has smashed their locks and bars.
Her kings and princes have been exiled to distant lands;
her law has ceased to exist.
Her prophets receive
no more visions from the Lord.
10 The leaders of beautiful Jerusalem
sit on the ground in silence.
They are clothed in burlap
and throw dust on their heads.
The young women of Jerusalem
hang their heads in shame.
11 I have cried until the tears no longer come;
my heart is broken.
My spirit is poured out in agony
as I see the desperate plight of my people.
Little children and tiny babies
are fainting and dying in the streets.
12 They cry out to their mothers,
“We need food and drink!”
Their lives ebb away in the streets
like the life of a warrior wounded in battle.
They gasp for life
as they collapse in their mothers’ arms.
13 What can I say about you?
Who has ever seen such sorrow?
O daughter of Jerusalem,
to what can I compare your anguish?
O virgin daughter of Zion,
how can I comfort you?
For your wound is as deep as the sea.
Who can heal you?
14 Your prophets have said
so many foolish things, false to the core.
They did not save you from exile
by pointing out your sins.
Instead, they painted false pictures,
filling you with false hope.
15 All who pass by jeer at you.
They scoff and insult beautiful Jerusalem,[j] saying,
“Is this the city called ‘Most Beautiful in All the World’
and ‘Joy of All the Earth’?”
16 All your enemies mock you.
They scoff and snarl and say,
“We have destroyed her at last!
We have long waited for this day,
and it is finally here!”
17 But it is the Lord who did just as he planned.
He has fulfilled the promises of disaster
he made long ago.
He has destroyed Jerusalem without mercy.
He has caused her enemies to gloat over her
and has given them power over her.
18 Cry aloud[k] before the Lord,
O walls of beautiful Jerusalem!
Let your tears flow like a river
day and night.
Give yourselves no rest;
give your eyes no relief.
19 Rise during the night and cry out.
Pour out your hearts like water to the Lord.
Lift up your hands to him in prayer,
pleading for your children,
for in every street
they are faint with hunger.
20 “O Lord, think about this!
Should you treat your own people this way?
Should mothers eat their own children,
those they once bounced on their knees?
Should priests and prophets be killed
within the Lord’s Temple?
21 “See them lying in the streets—
young and old,
boys and girls,
killed by the swords of the enemy.
You have killed them in your anger,
slaughtering them without mercy.
22 “You have invited terrors from all around,
as though you were calling them to a day of feasting.
In the day of the Lord’s anger,
no one has escaped or survived.
The enemy has killed all the children
whom I carried and raised.”
Footnotes
- 1:4 Hebrew Zion; also in 1:17.
- 1:6 Hebrew of the daughter of Zion.
- 1:15 Hebrew the virgin daughter of Judah.
- 1:17 Hebrew Jacob. The names “Jacob” and “Israel” are often interchanged throughout the Old Testament, referring sometimes to the individual patriarch and sometimes to the nation.
- 2:1a Hebrew the daughter of Zion; also in 2:8, 10, 18.
- 2:1b Hebrew his footstool.
- 2:2a Hebrew Jacob; also in 2:3b. See note on 1:17.
- 2:2b Hebrew the daughter of Judah; also in 2:5.
- 2:4 Hebrew on the tent of the daughter of Zion.
- 2:15 Hebrew the daughter of Jerusalem.
- 2:18 Hebrew Their heart cried.
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
