The Holy Bible

Lament over Jerusalem

How like a widow is she,
who was once great among the nations! She who was a princess among the provinces
has now become a slave.

2 She weeps bitterly through the night,
tears are upon her cheeks. Among all her lovers
she has no one to comfort her. All her friends have betrayed her;
they have become her enemies.

3 Judah has gone into exile,
with affliction and harsh slavery; she lives among the nations,
yet finds no place to rest. All her pursuers have overtaken her
in the midst of her distress.

4 The roads to Zion mourn,
for no one comes to her appointed feasts. All her gates are deserted;
her priests groan, her young women grieve,
and she is in bitter anguish.

5 Her adversaries have become her masters,
her enemies are at ease. The Lord has made her suffer
because of her many transgressions. Her children have gone into exile,
captives before the enemy.

6 All the splendour has departed
from the Daughter of Zion. Her princes have become like deer
that find no pasture; they flee without strength
before the pursuer.

7 In the days of her affliction and wandering,
Jerusalem remembers all the precious belongings that were hers in days of old. When her people fell into the enemy’s hands,
there was no one to help her. Her enemies looked at her,
and laughed at her downfall.

8 Jerusalem has sinned grievously;
therefore, she has become object of scorn. All who honoured her now despise her,
for they have seen her nakedness; she herself groans
and turns away.

9 Her filthiness clings to her skirts;
she took no thought of her future downfall; so her collapse was astounding,
and she had no one to comfort her.

10 The enemy has laid hands
on all her precious belongings; she has seen the heathen nations
enter her sanctuary— those You had forbidden
from entering Your assembly.

11 All her people groan
as they search for bread; they swapped their precious belongings for food,
just to keep themselves alive.

12 “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?
Look around and see. Is there any suffering like my suffering,
which was dealt out to me, that the Lord brought on me
in the day of His fierce anger?

13 “From on High He sent fire;
He sent it to descend into my bones. He spread a net for my feet
and turned me back. He made me desolate,
faint all the day long.

14 “My transgressions have bound me in a yoke,
woven together by His hands. They have been clasped upon my neck,
and the Lord has broken my strength. He has handed me over
to those whom I cannot withstand.

15 “The Lord has rejected
all the warriors in my midst; He has summoned an army against me
to crush my young men. The Lord has trodden down the Virgin Daughter of Judah
like grapes in a winepress.

16 “I weep because of these things,
and my eyes overflow with tears. There is no one near to comfort me,
no one to restore my spirit. My children are desolate
because the enemy has prevailed.”

17 Zion stretches out her hands,
but there is no one to comfort her. The Lord has issued a decree against Jacob
that his neighbours become his foes; Jerusalem has become
an unclean thing among them.

18 “The Lord is righteous,
for I have rebelled against His command. Listen, all you peoples;
look upon my suffering. My young men and maidens
have gone into captivity.

19 “I called to my allies,
but they betrayed me. My priests and my elders
perished in the city while they were searching for food
to keep themselves alive.