The Sorrows of Zion

How lonely sits the city That once had many people! She has become like a widow Who was once great among the nations! She who was a princess among the provinces Has become a forced laborer!

She weeps bitterly in the night, And her tears are on her cheeks; She has no one to comfort her Among all her lovers. All her friends have dealt treacherously with her; They have become her enemies.

Judah has gone into exile out of affliction And harsh servitude; She lives among the nations, But she has not found a resting place; All those who pursued her have overtaken her In the midst of distress.

Her adversaries have become her masters, Her enemies are secure; For the Lord has caused her grief Because of the multitude of her wrongdoings; Her little ones have gone away As captives led by the enemy.

All of her splendor Is gone from the daughter of Zion; Her leaders have become like deer That have found no pasture, And they have fled without strength From the pursuer.

In the days of her affliction and homelessness Jerusalem remembers all her treasures That were hers since the days of old, When her people fell into the hand of the adversary And no one helped her. The adversaries saw her, They laughed at her ruin.

Jerusalem sinned greatly, Therefore she has become an object of ridicule. All who honored her despise her Because they have seen her nakedness; Even she herself groans and turns away.

Her uncleanness was in her garment’s seams; She did not think of her future. So she has fallen in an astonishing way; She has no comforter. “See, Lord, my affliction, For the enemy has honored himself!”

The adversary has stretched out his hand Over all her precious things, For she has seen the nations enter her sanctuary, The ones whom You commanded That they were not to enter Your congregation.

All her people groan, seeking bread; They have given their treasures for food To restore their lives. “See, Lord, and look, For I am despised.”

“Is it 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 Lord tormented me on the day of His fierce anger.

From the height He sent fire into my bones, And it dominated them. He has spread a net for my feet; He has turned me back; He has made me desolate, Faint all day long.

The yoke of my wrongdoings is bound; By His hand they are woven together. They have come upon my neck; He has made my strength fail. The Lord has handed me over To those against whom I am not able to stand.

The Lord has thrown away all my strong men In my midst; He has called an appointed time against me To crush my young men; The Lord has trodden as in a wine press The virgin daughter of Judah.

For these things I weep; My eyes run down with water; Because far from me is a comforter, One to restore my soul. My children are desolate Because the enemy has prevailed.”

Zion stretches out with her hands; There is no one to comfort her; The Lord has commanded regarding Jacob That those around him become his adversaries; Jerusalem has become a filthy thing among them.

“The Lord is righteous, For I have rebelled against His command; Hear now, all peoples, And see my pain; My virgins and my young men Have gone into captivity.

I called to my lovers, but they deserted me; My priests and my elders perished in the city While they sought food to restore their strength themselves.

See, Lord, for I am in distress; My spirit is greatly troubled; My heart is overturned within me, For I have been very rebellious. In the street the sword has made women childless; In the house it is like death.

They have heard that I groan; There is no one to comfort me, All my enemies have heard of my disaster; They are joyful that You have done it. Oh, that You would bring the day which You have proclaimed, So that they will become like me.

The Lord has destroyed; He has not spared All the settlements of Jacob. In His wrath He has overthrown The strongholds of the daughter of Judah, He has hurled them down to the ground; He has profaned the kingdom and its leaders.

In fierce anger He has cut off All the strength of Israel; He has pulled back His right hand From the enemy. And He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire Consuming on all sides.

The Lord has become like an enemy. He has engulfed Israel; He has engulfed all its palaces, He has destroyed its strongholds And caused great mourning and grieving in the daughter of Judah.

And He has treated His tabernacle violently, like a despised garden; He has destroyed His appointed meeting place. The Lord has caused The appointed feast and Sabbath in Zion to be forgotten, And He has despised king and priest In the indignation of His anger.

The Lord has rejected His altar, He has repudiated His sanctuary; He has handed over The walls of her palaces to the enemy. They have made a noise in the house of the Lord As on the day of an appointed feast.