Beginning
1 The city of Jerusalem is so empty!
She used to be full of people.
But now she’s like a woman whose husband has died.
She used to be great among the nations.
She was like a queen among the kingdoms.
But now she is a slave.
2 Jerusalem weeps bitterly at night.
Tears run down her cheeks.
None of her friends comforts her.
All those who were going to help her
have turned against her.
They have become her enemies.
3 After Judah’s people had suffered greatly,
they were taken away as prisoners.
Now they live among the nations.
They can’t find any place to rest.
All those who were chasing them have caught up with them.
And they can’t get away.
4 The roads to Zion are empty.
No one travels to her appointed feasts.
All the public places near her gates are deserted.
Her priests groan.
Her young women are sad.
And Zion herself weeps bitterly.
5 Her enemies have become her masters.
They have an easy life.
The Lord has brought suffering to Jerusalem
because her people have committed so many sins.
Her children have been taken away as prisoners.
Her enemies have forced her people to leave their homes.
6 The city of Zion used to be full of glory.
But now her glory has faded away.
Her princes are like deer.
They can’t find anything to eat.
They are almost too weak to get away
from those who hunt them down.
7 Jerusalem’s people are suffering and wandering.
They remember all the treasures
they used to have.
But they fell into the hands of their enemies.
And no one was there to help them.
Their enemies looked at them.
They laughed because Jerusalem had been destroyed.
8 Her people have committed many sins.
They have become impure.
All those who honored Jerusalem now look down on her.
They all look at her as if she were a naked woman.
The city groans and turns away in shame.
9 Her skirts are dirty.
She didn’t think about how things might turn out.
Her fall from power amazed everyone.
And no one was there to comfort her.
She said, “Lord, please pay attention to how much I’m suffering.
My enemies have won the battle over me.”
10 Jerusalem’s enemies took away
all her treasures.
Her people saw outsiders
enter her temple.
The Lord had commanded them
not to do that.
11 All Jerusalem’s people groan
as they search for bread.
They trade their treasures for food
just to stay alive.
Jerusalem says, “Lord, look at me.
Think about my condition.
Everyone looks down on me.”
12 Jerusalem also says, “All you who are passing by,
don’t you care about what has happened to me?
Just look at my condition.
Has anyone suffered the way I have?
The Lord has brought all this on me.
He has made me suffer.
His anger has burned against me.
13 “He sent down fire from heaven.
It went deep down into my bones.
He spread a net to catch me by the feet.
He stopped me right where I was.
He made me empty.
I am sick all the time.
14 “My sins have been made into a heavy yoke.
They were woven together by his hands.
They have been placed on my neck.
The Lord has taken away my strength.
He has handed me over to my enemies.
I can’t win the battle over them.
15 “The Lord has refused to accept
any of my soldiers.
He has sent for an army
to crush my young men.
I am like grapes in the Lord’s winepress.
He has stomped on me,
even though I am his very own.
16 “That’s why I am weeping.
Tears are flowing from my eyes.
No one is near to comfort me.
No one can heal my spirit.
My children don’t have anything.
My enemies are much too strong for me.”
17 Zion reaches out her hands.
But no one is there to comfort her people.
The Lord has ordered that
the neighbors of Jacob’s people would become their enemies.
Jerusalem has become impure among them.
18 Jerusalem says, “The Lord always does what is right.
But I refused to obey his commands.
Listen, all you nations.
Pay attention to how much I’m suffering.
My young men and women
have been taken away as prisoners.
19 “I called out to those who were going to help me.
But they turned against me.
My priests and elders
died in the city.
They were searching for food
just to stay alive.
20 “Lord, see how upset I am!
I am suffering deep down inside.
My heart is troubled.
Again and again I have refused to obey you.
Outside the city, people are being killed by swords.
Inside, there is nothing but death.
21 “People have heard me groan.
But no one is here to comfort me.
My enemies have heard about all my troubles.
What you have done makes them happy.
So please judge them, just as you said you would.
Let them become like me.
22 “Please pay attention to all their sinful ways.
Punish them as you have punished me.
You judged me because I had committed so many sins.
I groan all the time.
And my heart is weak.”
2 See how the Lord covered the city of Zion
with the cloud of his anger!
He threw Israel’s glory down
from heaven to earth.
When he was angry, he turned his back
on his own city.
2 Without pity the Lord swallowed up
all the homes of Jacob’s people.
When he was angry, he tore down
the forts of the people of Judah.
He brought down their kingdom and princes
to the ground in dishonor.
3 When he was very angry,
he took away Israel’s power.
He pulled back his powerful right hand
as the enemy approached.
His burning anger blazed out in Jacob’s land.
It burned up everything near it.
4 Like an enemy the Lord got his bow ready to use.
He had a sword in his right hand.
Like an enemy he destroyed
everything that used to be pleasing to him.
His anger blazed out like fire.
It burned up the homes in the city of Zion.
5 The Lord was like an enemy.
He swallowed up Israel.
He swallowed up all of its palaces.
He destroyed its forts.
He filled the people of Judah
with sorrow and sadness.
6 The Lord’s temple was like a garden.
But he completely destroyed it.
He destroyed the place
where he used to meet with his people.
He made Zion’s people forget
their appointed feasts and Sabbath days.
When he was very angry, he turned his back on
king and priest alike.
7 The Lord deserted his altar.
He left his temple.
He gave the walls of Jerusalem’s palaces
into the hands of her enemies.
They shouted loudly in the house of the Lord.
You would have thought it was the day
of an appointed feast.
8 The Lord decided to tear down
the walls around the city of Zion.
He measured out what he wanted to destroy.
Then he destroyed Jerusalem by his power.
He made even her towers and walls sing songs of sadness.
All of them fell down.
9 Her gates sank down into the ground.
He broke the metal bars that locked her gates, and he destroyed them.
Her king and princes were taken away to other nations.
There is no law anymore.
Jerusalem’s prophets no longer receive
visions from the Lord.
10 The elders of the city of Zion
sit silently on the ground.
They have sprinkled dust on their heads.
They’ve put on the clothes of sadness.
The young women of Jerusalem
have bowed their heads toward the ground.
11 I’ve cried so much I can’t see very well.
I’m suffering deep down inside.
My heart is broken
because my people are destroyed.
Children and babies are fainting
in the streets of the city.
12 They say to their mothers,
“Where can we find something to eat and drink?”
They faint like wounded soldiers
in the streets of the city.
Their lives are slipping away
in their mothers’ arms.
13 City of Jerusalem, what can I say about you?
What can I compare you to?
People of Zion, what are you like?
I want to comfort you.
Your wound is as deep as the ocean.
Who can heal you?
14 The visions of your prophets were lies.
They weren’t worth anything.
They didn’t show you the sins you had committed.
So that’s why you were captured.
The messages they gave you were lies.
They led you astray.
15 All those who pass by
clap their hands and make fun of you.
They laugh at you and shake their heads
at the city of Jerusalem.
They say, “Could that be the city
that was called perfect and beautiful?
Is that the city that brought joy to everyone on earth?”
16 All your enemies open their mouths
wide against you.
They laugh at you and grind their teeth.
They say, “We have swallowed up Jerusalem’s people.
This is the day we’ve waited for.
And we’ve lived to see it.”
17 The Lord has done what he planned to do.
He has made what he said come true.
He gave the command long ago.
He has destroyed you without pity.
He has let your enemies laugh at you.
He has made them stronger than you are.
18 People in the city of Zion,
cry out from your heart to the Lord.
Let your tears flow like a river
day and night.
Don’t stop at all.
Don’t give your eyes any rest.
19 Get up. Cry out as the night begins.
Tell the Lord all your troubles.
Lift up your hands to him.
Pray that the lives of your children will be spared.
At every street corner they faint
because they are so hungry.
20 Jerusalem says, “Lord, look at me.
Think about my condition.
Have you ever treated anyone else like this?
Should women have to eat their babies?
Should they eat the children they’ve taken care of?
Should priests and prophets be killed
in your own temple?
21 “Young people and old people alike
lie dead in the dust of my streets.
My young men and women
have been killed by swords.
You killed them when you were angry.
You put them to death without pity.
22 “You sent for terrors to come against me on every side.
It was as if you were inviting people to enjoy a feast day.
Because you were angry, no one escaped.
No one was left alive.
I took good care of my children and brought them up.
But my enemies have destroyed them.”
3 I am a man who has suffered greatly.
The Lord has used the Babylonians
to punish my people.
2 He has driven me away. He has made me walk
in darkness instead of light.
3 He has turned his powerful hand against me.
He has done it again and again, all day long.
4 He has worn out my body.
He has broken my bones.
5 He has surrounded me and attacked me.
He has made me suffer bitterly.
He has made things hard for me.
6 He has made me live in darkness
like those who are dead and gone.
7 He has built walls around me, so I can’t escape.
He has put heavy chains on me.
8 I call out and cry for help.
But he won’t listen to me when I pray.
9 He has put up a stone wall to block my way.
He has made my paths crooked.
10 He has been like a bear waiting to attack me.
He has been like a lion hiding in the bushes.
11 He has dragged me off the path.
He has torn me to pieces.
And he has left me helpless.
12 He has gotten his bow ready to use.
He has shot his arrows at me.
13 The arrows from his bag
have gone through my heart.
14 My people laugh at me all the time.
They sing and make fun of me all day long.
15 The Lord has made my life bitter.
He has made me suffer bitterly.
16 He made me chew stones that broke my teeth.
He has walked all over me in the dust.
17 I have lost all hope of ever having any peace.
I’ve forgotten what good times are like.
18 So I say, “My glory has faded away.
My hope in the Lord is gone.”
19 I remember how I suffered and wandered.
I remember how bitter my life was.
20 I remember it very well.
My spirit is very sad deep down inside me.
21 But here is something else I remember.
And it gives me hope.
22 The Lord loves us very much.
So we haven’t been completely destroyed.
His loving concern never fails.
23 His great love is new every morning.
Lord, how faithful you are!
24 I say to myself, “The Lord is everything I will ever need.
So I will put my hope in him.”
25 The Lord is good to those who put their hope in him.
He is good to those who look to him.
26 It is good when people wait quietly
for the Lord to save them.
27 It is good for a man to carry a heavy load of suffering
while he is young.
28 Let him sit alone and not say anything.
The Lord has placed that load on him.
29 Let him bury his face in the dust.
There might still be hope for him.
30 Let him turn his cheek toward those who would slap him.
Let him be filled with shame.
31 The Lord doesn’t turn his back
on people forever.
32 He might bring suffering.
But he will also show loving concern.
How great his faithful love is!
33 He doesn’t want to bring pain
or suffering to anyone.
34 Every time people crush prisoners under their feet,
the Lord knows all about it.
35 When people refuse to give someone what they should,
the Most High God knows it.
36 When people don’t treat someone fairly,
the Lord knows it.
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