11 All her people groan(A)
    as they search for bread;(B)
they barter their treasures for food
    to keep themselves alive.
“Look, Lord, and consider,
    for I am despised.”

12 “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?(C)
    Look around and see.
Is any suffering like my suffering(D)
    that was inflicted on me,
that the Lord brought on me
    in the day of his fierce anger?(E)

13 “From on high he sent fire,
    sent it down into my bones.(F)
He spread a net(G) for my feet
    and turned me back.
He made me desolate,(H)
    faint(I) all the day long.

14 “My sins have been bound into a yoke[a];(J)
    by his hands they were woven together.
They have been hung on my neck,
    and the Lord has sapped my strength.
He has given me into the hands(K)
    of those I cannot withstand.

15 “The Lord has rejected
    all the warriors in my midst;(L)
he has summoned an army(M) against me
    to[b] crush my young men.(N)
In his winepress(O) the Lord has trampled(P)
    Virgin Daughter(Q) Judah.

16 “This is why I weep
    and my eyes overflow with tears.(R)
No one is near to comfort(S) me,
    no one to restore my spirit.
My children are destitute
    because the enemy has prevailed.”(T)

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Footnotes

  1. Lamentations 1:14 Most Hebrew manuscripts; many Hebrew manuscripts and Septuagint He kept watch over my sins
  2. Lamentations 1:15 Or has set a time for me / when he will

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[a]
    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.”

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Footnotes

  1. 1:15 Hebrew the virgin daughter of Judah.