2 The Lord was very angry.
He wanted Zion's people to be ashamed.
Zion was the most beautiful city in Israel.^[b]
But he has put it down to the ground from its high place.
Zion was like a place where he had rested his feet.^[c]
Now that he is angry, he has forgotten about that.
² The Lord has destroyed all the houses where Jacob's people lived.
He decided that he must punish them.
Because he is angry,
he has destroyed all Judah's strong towns.
Yes, he has destroyed all the buildings, and he has killed the rulers and all the people.
³ Yes, because he is very angry,
he has destroyed Israel's whole army.
He did not help them when they were fighting the enemy.
He was like a big hot fire
that burned Jacob's people from all sides.
⁴ He prepared his bow and his arrows, like an enemy ready to kill people.
Like an enemy, he has killed all our strong men that once we were proud of.
He has shown how angry he was.
He has sent a fire to destroy all Zion's houses.
⁵ The Lord has become like an enemy.
He has destroyed Israel
and all the beautiful houses there.
He has destroyed all the strong towns that had walls.
He has caused Judah's people to weep.
They are very sad.
⁶ He has knocked down his own holy house
as easily as someone can knock down a hut in a garden.
He has destroyed this place where people once met him.
The Lord has caused Zion's people to forget
the special events and the Sabbath days in his holy house.^[d]
He was very angry.
So he thought that our king and our priests were not important.
He refused to help them.
⁷ His holy house and his altar there
no longer give pleasure to the Lord.
He has given Zion's most beautiful houses to the enemy.^[e]
They shout in the holy house of the Lord
as people shout on a special holy day.
⁸ The Lord decided to destroy the strong walls of Zion.
He carefully broke away each stone.
It causes us to weep when we look at those walls.
He destroyed them all.
He destroyed the inside walls and he destroyed the strong outside walls.
⁹ Zion's gates fell down on the ground.
He destroyed them and he has broken them in pieces.
The enemies have taken away our king
and his sons to a foreign country.
The people no longer understand God's Law.^[f]
The Lord does not give messages to his prophets any more.
¹⁰ Zion's leaders sit on the ground and they are saying nothing.
They have dressed themselves in sackcloth
and they throw dirt on their own heads.^[g]
They are showing everyone that they are very sad.
The young women of Jerusalem can only look down to the ground,
because they are very sad too.
¹¹ I have cried so much that my eyes are red now.
Even the parts inside my body hurt,
because my people are dying.
I feel ill because I am so sad.
The children and babies fall in the city's streets
because they are so weak.
¹² ‘Where has all the food and drink gone?’
the hungry children ask their mothers.
Then they fall down in pain on the streets of the city.
They die in their mothers' arms.
¹³ I want to help you people of Jerusalem,
but there is nothing that I can say to you.
I do not know about anything like what has happened to you.
God has destroyed Zion completely!
I do not know anyone who can make you people better.
¹⁴ Your prophets have promised you many good things.
Those good things will not happen.
They should have told you that you should not do wrong things.
If they had told you that, none of these troubles would have happened.
The prophets do not tell you true messages from God
and their dreams are false.^[h]
15 Everyone who goes by laughs at you.
They are happy because you are sad.
They see how the enemy has destroyed everything in Jerusalem.
‘Surely this cannot be the city that men called most beautiful,’ they say.
‘People have said that this city is the best city on earth.’
¹⁶ All your enemies make noises through their teeth
because they are very happy.
‘We have won!’ they say.
‘We have waited for this day.
Now we have beaten you!
Now we have seen it!’
¹⁷ The Lord has done what he decided to do.
Yes, he has done what he told you about a long time ago.
He has destroyed your city and he has not felt sorry about it.
He has caused your enemies to be happy.
He has made them strong
so that they could win against you.^[i]
18 Day and night, cause your tears to run like a river round the walls of Zion.
Cry to the Lord all the time, you people.
Do not rest.
Do not let your eyes stop crying.
¹⁹ Stand up and pray for God's help.
Talk to God all night.
Pour out your words and thoughts to the Lord
as you pour out water from a jar.
Lift up your hands to him,
and ask him to save the lives of your children.
They fall down to die at the end of every street
because they are so hungry.^[j]
20 ‘Look at us, Lord,’ you should say.
‘You have done all this to your people.
Women eat their own children now!
They eat the children that they took care of.
People have killed your own priests and prophets
in your holy house!
²¹ Young people and old people lie dead in the streets.
The enemy has killed the young men and women with long knives.
But it was really you who killed them.
You were very angry with us.
So you killed them and you did not feel sorry.
²² You asked our enemies to come round us
as people come to a special feast.
They killed our people because you were angry.
Nobody could hide or run away.
They all died.
We saw the enemy kill our own children.’