Beginning

Jerusalem’s Sorrows

1 How empty is the city that was once full of people! She was once great among the nations. But now she has become like a woman whose husband has died. She who was once a queen among the cities has become a servant made to work. ² She cries hard in the night, with tears on her face. She has no one to comfort her among all her lovers. All her friends have not been faithful to her. They have turned against her. ³ Judah has been taken away to a strange land where she suffers much and is made to work hard as a servant. She lives among the nations, but has no rest. All those who went after her have taken her in her trouble. ⁴ The roads of Zion are filled with sorrow, because no one comes to the special suppers. All her gates are laid waste. Her religious leaders are crying in sorrow. Her pure young women are troubled, and she herself is in bitter suffering. ⁵ Those who hate her have power over her, and all goes well for them. For the Lord has made her suffer for her many sins. Her children have been taken away in front of those who hate her. ⁶ The people of Zion have lost all her great power. Her princes are like deer that find no field where they can eat. They are weak as they run away from those who are after them. ⁷ In the days of her trouble and when she had no home, Jerusalem remembers all the things of much worth that were hers in days long ago, when her people fell into the hands of those who hated her. No one helped her. Those who hated her saw her and made fun of her when she was destroyed. ⁸ Jerusalem sinned very much, so she is unclean. All who honored her hate her, because they have seen her put to shame. Even she herself cries in sorrow and turns away. ⁹ She was unclean in her clothing. She did not think about her future. She came to nothing. She had no one to comfort her. “O Lord, see my suffering, for those who hate me have won!” ¹⁰ Those who hate her have laid their hands on all her things of much worth. For she has seen the nations go into her holy place, those whom You said must not gather with Your people. ¹¹ All her people cry inside themselves as they look for bread. They have traded their things of much worth for food to have strength. “Look and see, O Lord, for I am hated. ¹² Is it nothing to all you who pass this way? Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow given me, which the Lord put on me in the day of His burning anger. ¹³ He sent fire from on high into my bones. He has spread a net for my feet and has turned me back. He has left me destroyed, and weak all day long. ¹⁴ The weight of my sins is put upon me. He tied them together and put them upon my neck. He has taken away my strength. The Lord has given me over to those I cannot stand against. ¹⁵ The Lord has turned away from all my strong soldiers. He has sent an army against me to crush my young men. The Lord has crushed the pure daughters of Judah like grapes are crushed to make wine. ¹⁶ This is why I cry. Tears flow from my eyes, because a comforter is far from me who would give strength to my soul. My children are destroyed, because those who hate me have won.” ¹⁷ Zion has put out her hands, but there is no one to comfort her. The Lord has spoken against Jacob, that his neighbors should fight against him. Jerusalem has become unclean to them. ¹⁸ “The Lord is right and good, yet I have not wanted to obey His Word. Listen now, all you people, and see my suffering. My pure young women and young men have been taken away to a strange land. ¹⁹ I called to my lovers, but they were not faithful to me. My religious leaders and leaders of the people died in the city, while they looked for food to get their strength back. ²⁰ See how I suffer, O Lord. My spirit is very troubled. My heart has no rest within me, for I have not obeyed. The sword kills in the street. In the house there is only death. ²¹ They have heard how I cry in sorrow. There is no one to comfort me. All those who hate me have heard of my trouble. They are glad for what You did. Bring the day that You have told us about, and let them become like me. ²² Let their sin come before You, and do to them what You have done to me because of all my sin. My cries are many, and my heart is weak.”

Jerusalem Is Punished

2 How the Lord has covered Zion with a cloud in His anger! He has thrown the shining-greatness of Israel from heaven to earth. In the day of His anger He has not remembered the place where He rests His feet. ² The Lord has destroyed all the places of Jacob. In His anger He has broken down the strong-places of Judah. He has brought the nation and its leaders down to the ground in shame. ³ In burning anger He has cut off all the strength of Israel. He would not help us fight against those who hate us. He has burned like a hot fire in Jacob, destroying everything around it. ⁴ He has pulled back His bow string like one who fights against us. He has set His right hand like one who hates us, and has killed all that we liked to see. He has poured out His anger like fire on the tent of Zion. ⁵ The Lord has become like one who hates us. He has destroyed Israel. He has destroyed all its beautiful houses. He has destroyed its strong-places, and has caused much sorrow and crying for the people of Judah. ⁶ He has broken down His house like a garden tent. He has destroyed His chosen meeting place. The Lord has caused the special suppers and Day of Rest to be forgotten in Zion. And He has hated the king and the religious leader in His anger. ⁷ The Lord has had nothing to do with His altar. He has left His holy place. He has given the walls of her beautiful houses over to those who hate us. They have made a noise in the house of the Lord as on the day of a special supper. ⁸ The Lord plans to destroy the wall of the people of Zion. He marked how long it was, and has not kept His hand from destroying. He has caused tower and wall to cry in sorrow. They suffer together. ⁹ Her gates have gone down into the ground. He has destroyed and broken her iron pieces. Her king and leaders have been sent among the nations. The Law is no more. And her men who spoke for God have no more special dreams from the Lord. ¹⁰ The leaders of the people of Zion sit quietly on the ground. They have thrown dust on their heads, and have dressed themselves in cloth made from hair. The pure young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground. ¹¹ My eyes become weak from crying. My spirit is very troubled. My heart is poured out in sorrow, because my people have been destroyed, and because children and babies fall down weak in the city streets. ¹² They cry to their mothers, “Where is bread and wine?” as they fall down weak in the city streets like a man hurt in battle, and as they die in their mothers’ arms. ¹³ What can I say for you? What can I compare you with, O people of Jerusalem? What can I compare you with, that I may comfort you, O pure daughter of Zion? For you have been destroyed as much as the sea is large. And who can heal you? ¹⁴ Your men who speak in God’s name have given you false and foolish dreams. They have not made your sin known, so you could return from where you are held. But they have told you false dreams that have led you the wrong way. ¹⁵ All who pass by clap their hands at you. They make fun of you and shake their heads at the people of Jerusalem, saying, “Is this the city which was called perfect in beauty, the joy of all the earth?” ¹⁶ All who hate you have opened their mouths wide against you. They make fun of you and grind their teeth and say, “We have destroyed her! For sure this is the day we have waited for! We have lived to see it!” ¹⁷ The Lord has done what He planned. He has done what He had said He would do long ago. He has destroyed without pity. He has caused those who hate you to have joy over you. He has given strength to those who fight against you. ¹⁸ Let your heart cry out to the Lord. O wall of the people of Zion, let your tears flow down like a river day and night. Give yourself no rest. Do not let your eyes stop crying. ¹⁹ Get up and cry out in the night, at the beginning of the night hours. Pour out your heart like water before the Lord. Lift up your hands to Him for the lives of your children who are weak with hunger on every street.” ²⁰ See, O Lord, and look! To whom have You done this? Should women eat their children, the little ones they have cared for? Should religious leaders and men of God be killed in the Lord’s holy place? ²¹ The young and the old lie in the dust of the streets. My pure young women and young men have been killed by the sword. You have killed them in the day of Your anger. You have killed without pity. ²² As people are asked to come to a special supper, You have sent trouble on every side. And no one got away or stayed alive in the day of the Lord’s anger. Those I have cared for and brought up have been destroyed by those who hate me.

Jerusalem’s Hope

3 I am the man who has been suffering because of the power of God’s anger. ² He has led me and brought me into darkness and not into light. ³ For sure He has turned His hand against me again and again all day long. ⁴ He has made my flesh and my skin waste away. He has broken my bones. ⁵ He has shut me in with trouble and suffering. ⁶ He has made me live in dark places, like those who have been dead a long time. ⁷ He has put a wall around me so that I cannot go out. He has put heavy chains on me. ⁸ Even when I cry and call for help, he shuts out my prayer. ⁹ He has stopped me with blocks of stone. He has made my paths no longer straight. ¹⁰ He is like a bear lying in wait, like a lion hiding in secret places. ¹¹ He has turned me from the path and torn me to pieces. He has destroyed me. ¹² He used His bow, and set me as a mark for His arrow. ¹³ He has taken out His arrows and sent them into my heart. ¹⁴ All my people laugh at me. They sing songs that make fun of me all day long. ¹⁵ He has filled me with bitter feelings. He has made me drunk with wormwood. ¹⁶ He has broken my teeth with rocks, and has covered me with dust. ¹⁷ Peace has left my soul. I have forgotten what it is like to be happy. ¹⁸ So I say, “My strength is gone, and so has my hope from the Lord.”

¹⁹ Remember my trouble and my traveling from place to place, the wormwood and bitter feelings. ²⁰ I remember it always, and my soul bows down within me. ²¹ But this I remember, and so I have hope. ²² It is because of the Lord’s loving-kindness that we are not destroyed for His loving-pity never ends. ²³ It is new every morning. He is so very faithful. ²⁴ “The Lord is my share.” says my soul, “so I have hope in Him.” ²⁵ The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the one who looks for Him. ²⁶ It is good that one should be quiet and wait for the saving power of the Lord. ²⁷ It is good for a man to carry the load while he is young. ²⁸ Let him sit alone and be quiet when God has laid the load on him. ²⁹ Let him put his mouth in the dust. There may be hope yet. ³⁰ Let him give his face to the one who hits him, and be filled with shame. ³¹ For the Lord will not turn away from a man forever. ³² For if He causes sorrow, He will have loving-pity because of His great loving-kindness. ³³ He does not want to cause trouble or sorrow for the children of men. ³⁴ He is not pleased when all those on earth who are in prison are crushed under foot. ³⁵ The Most High is not pleased when the rights are kept away from a man who is before Him, ³⁶ and when wrong is done to him in his cause. The Lord is not pleased with these things.