1  How lonely sits the city

that was full of people!

How like a ^awidow has she become,

she who was great among the nations!

She who was a princess among the provinces

has become a slave.

2  She weeps bitterly in the night,

with tears on her cheeks;

among all her ^blovers

she has none to comfort her;

all her friends have dealt treacherously with her;

they have become her enemies.

3  Judah has gone into exile because of affliction¹

and hard servitude;

she dwells now among the nations,

but finds ^cno resting place;

her pursuers have all overtaken her

in the midst of her distress.²

4  The ^droads to Zion mourn,

for none come to the festival;

all her gates are desolate;

her priests groan;

her virgins have been afflicted,³

and she herself suffers bitterly.

5  Her foes have become the ^ehead;

her enemies prosper,

because the Lord has afflicted her

for the multitude of her transgressions;

^fher children have gone away,

captives before the foe.

6  From the daughter of Zion

all her majesty has departed.

Her princes have become like deer

that find no pasture;

they fled without strength

before the pursuer.

7  Jerusalem remembers

in the days of her affliction and wandering

all the ^gprecious things

that were hers from days of old.

When her people fell into the hand of the foe,

and there was none to ^hhelp her,

her foes gloated over her;

they mocked at her downfall.

8  Jerusalem sinned grievously;

therefore she became filthy;

all who honored her despise her,

for they have ⁱseen her nakedness;

she herself groans

and turns her face away.

9  Her uncleanness was in her skirts;

she took no thought of her future;⁴

therefore her fall is terrible;

she has no comforter.

“O Lord, behold my affliction,

for the enemy has triumphed!”

10  The enemy has stretched out his hands

over all her precious things;

for she has seen the nations

^jenter her sanctuary,

those whom you ^kforbade

to enter your congregation.

11  ^lAll her people groan

as they search for bread;

they trade their treasures for food

to revive their strength.

“Look, O Lord, and see,

for I am despised.”

12  “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?

Look and see

if there is any sorrow like my sorrow,

which was brought upon me,

which the Lord inflicted

on the day of his fierce anger.

13  “From on high he sent fire;

into my bones⁵ he made it descend;

he spread a net for my feet;

he turned me back;

he has left me stunned,

faint all the day long.

14  “My transgressions were bound⁶ into a ^myoke;

by his hand they were fastened together;

they were set upon my neck;

he caused my strength to fail;

the Lord gave me into the hands

of those whom I cannot withstand.

15  “The Lord rejected

all my mighty men in my midst;

he summoned an assembly against me

to crush my young men;

the Lord has trodden as in a winepress

the virgin daughter of Judah.

16  “For these things ⁿI weep;

my eyes flow with tears;

for a comforter is far from me,

one to revive my spirit;

my children are desolate,

for the enemy has prevailed.”

17  Zion ^ostretches out her hands,

but there is none to comfort her;

the Lord has commanded against Jacob

that his neighbors should be his foes;

Jerusalem has become

a filthy thing among them.

18  “The Lord is ^pin the right,

for I have rebelled against his word;

but hear, all you peoples,

and see my suffering;

^qmy young women and my young men

have gone into captivity.

19  “I called to my lovers,

but they deceived me;

my priests and elders

perished in the city,

while they sought food

to revive their strength.

20  “Look, O Lord, for I am in distress;

my stomach churns;

my heart is wrung within me,

because I have been very rebellious.

^rIn the street the sword bereaves;

in the house it is like death.

21  “They heard⁷ my groaning,

yet there is no one to comfort me.

All my enemies have heard of my trouble;

they are glad that you have done it.

You have brought⁸ the day you announced;

now let them be as I am.

22  “Let all their evildoing come before you,

and deal with them

as you have dealt with me

because of all my transgressions;

for my groans are many,

and my heart is faint.”

2  How the Lord in his anger

has set the daughter of Zion under a cloud!

He has cast down from heaven to earth

the splendor of Israel;

he has not remembered his ^sfootstool

in the day of his anger.

2  The Lord has swallowed up ^twithout mercy

all the habitations of Jacob;

in his wrath he has broken down

the strongholds of the daughter of Judah;

he has brought down to the ground in dishonor

the kingdom and its rulers.

3  He has cut down in fierce anger

all the might of Israel;

he has ^uwithdrawn from them his right hand

in the face of the enemy;

he has burned like a flaming fire in Jacob,

consuming all around.

4  He has ^vbent his bow like an enemy,

with his right hand set like a foe;

and he has killed all who were delightful in our eyes;

in the tent of the daughter of Zion,

he has poured out his fury like fire.

5  The Lord has become like an enemy;

he has swallowed up Israel;

he has swallowed up all its palaces;

he has laid in ruins its ^wstrongholds,

and he has multiplied in the daughter of Judah

mourning and lamentation.

6  He has laid waste his booth like a garden,

laid in ruins his meeting place;

the Lord has made Zion forget

festival and Sabbath,

and in his fierce indignation has spurned king and priest.

7  The Lord has scorned his altar,

disowned his sanctuary;

he has ^xdelivered into the hand of the enemy

the walls of her palaces;

they raised a clamor in the house of the Lord

as on the day of festival.

8  The Lord determined to lay in ruins

the wall of the daughter of Zion;

he stretched out the ^ymeasuring line;

he did not restrain his hand from destroying;

he caused rampart and wall to lament;

they languished together.

9  Her gates have sunk into the ground;

he has ruined and broken her bars;

her king and princes are among the nations;

the law is no more,

and ^zher prophets find

no vision from the Lord.

10  The elders of the daughter of Zion

^asit on the ground in silence;

they have ^bthrown dust on their heads

and put on sackcloth;

the young women of Jerusalem

have bowed their heads to the ground.

11  My eyes are spent with weeping;

^cmy stomach churns;

my bile is poured out to the ground

^dbecause of the destruction of the daughter of my people,

because ^einfants and babies faint

in the streets of the city.

12  They cry to their mothers,

“Where is bread and wine?”

as they faint like a wounded man

in the streets of the city,

as their life is poured out

on their mothers’ bosom.

13  What can I say for you, to what compare you,

O daughter of Jerusalem?

What can I ^fliken to you, that I may comfort you,

O ^gvirgin daughter of Zion?

For your ruin is vast as the sea;

^hwho can heal you?

14  Your prophets have seen for you

ⁱfalse and deceptive visions;

they have not ^jexposed your iniquity

to restore your fortunes,

but have seen for you oracles

that are false and misleading.

15  All who pass along the way

clap their hands at you;

they hiss and ^kwag their heads

at the daughter of Jerusalem:

“Is this the city that was called

the ^lperfection of beauty,

^mthe joy of all the earth?”

16  All your enemies

rail against you;

they hiss, they gnash their teeth,

they cry: “We have swallowed her!

Ah, this is the day we longed for;

now we have it; we see it!”

17  ⁿThe Lord has done what he purposed;

he has carried out his word,

which he commanded long ago;

he has thrown down without pity;

he has made the enemy ^orejoice over you

and exalted the might of your foes.

18  Their heart cried to the Lord.

O wall of the daughter of Zion,

let tears stream down like a torrent

day and night!

Give yourself no rest,

your eyes no respite!

19  “Arise, cry out in the night,

at the beginning of the night watches!

^pPour out your heart like water

before the presence of the Lord!

Lift your hands to him

for the lives of your children,

who faint for hunger

^qat the head of every street.”

20  Look, O Lord, and see!

With whom have you dealt thus?

Should women ^reat the fruit of their womb,

the children of their tender care?

Should priest and prophet be killed

in the sanctuary of the Lord?

21  In the dust of the streets

lie the ^syoung and the old;

my young women and my young men

have fallen by the sword;

you have killed them in the day of your anger,

slaughtering without pity.

22  You summoned as if to a festival day

my ^tterrors on every side,

and on the day of the anger of the Lord

no one escaped or survived;

those whom I held and raised

my enemy destroyed.

3  I am the man who has seen affliction

under the rod of his wrath;

2  he has driven and brought me

into ^udarkness without any light;

3  surely against me he turns his hand

again and again the whole day long.

4  He has made my flesh and my ^vskin waste away;

he has ^wbroken my bones;

5  he has besieged and enveloped me

with bitterness and tribulation;

6  ^xhe has made me dwell in darkness

like the dead of long ago.

7  He has walled me about so that I cannot escape;

he has made my chains heavy;

8  though I call and ^ycry for help,

he shuts out my prayer;

9  he has blocked my ways with blocks of stones;

he has made my paths crooked.

10  He is a ^zbear lying in wait for me,

a lion in hiding;

11  he turned aside my steps and tore me to pieces;

he has made me desolate;

12  he ^abent his bow and set me

as a target for his arrow.

13  He drove into my kidneys

the ^barrows of his quiver;

14  I have become the ^claughingstock of all my people,¹

the object of their taunts all day long.

15  He has filled me with bitterness;

he has sated me with ^dwormwood.

16  He has made my teeth grind on gravel,

and made me cower in ashes;

17  my soul is bereft of peace;

I have forgotten what happiness² is;

18  so I say, “My endurance has perished;

so has my hope from the Lord.”

19  Remember my affliction and my wanderings,

the wormwood and the gall!

20  My soul continually remembers it

and is ^ebowed down within me.

21  But this I call to mind,

and therefore I have hope:

22  The ^fsteadfast love of the Lord never ceases;³

his ^gmercies never come to an end;

23  they are new ^hevery morning;

great is your ⁱfaithfulness.

24  “The Lord is ^jmy portion,” says my soul,

“therefore I will ^khope in him.”

25  The Lord is good to those who ^lwait for him,

to the soul who ^mseeks him.

26  It is good that one should wait ⁿquietly

for the salvation of the Lord.

27  It is good for a man that he bear

the yoke in his youth.

28  Let him sit alone in silence

when it is laid on him;

29  let him put his mouth in the dust—

there may yet be hope;

30  let him give his ^ocheek to the one who strikes,

and let him be filled with insults.

31  For the Lord will not

cast off forever,

32  for, though he cause grief, he will have compassion

according to the ^pabundance of his steadfast love;

33  for ^qhe does not afflict from his heart

or grieve the children of men.

34  To crush underfoot

all the prisoners of the earth,

35  to ^rdeny a man justice

in the presence of the Most High,

36  to subvert a man in his lawsuit,

the Lord does not approve.

37  Who has spoken and it came to pass,

unless the Lord has commanded it?

38  Is it not from the mouth of the Most High

that good ^sand bad come?

39  ^tWhy should a living man complain,

a man, about the punishment of his sins?

40  Let us test and examine our ways,

and ^ureturn to the Lord!

41  Let us lift up our ^vhearts and ^whands

to God in heaven:

42  “We have transgressed and rebelled,

and you have not forgiven.

43  “You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us,

killing without pity;

44  you have wrapped yourself with a ^xcloud

so that no prayer can pass through.

45  You have made us ^yscum and garbage

among the peoples.

46  ^z“All our enemies

open their mouths against us;

47  ^apanic and pitfall have come upon us,

^bdevastation and destruction;

48  my eyes flow with rivers of tears

^cbecause of the destruction of the daughter of my people.

49  “My eyes will flow without ceasing,

without respite,

50  until the Lord from heaven

^dlooks down and sees;

51  my eyes cause me grief

at the fate of all the daughters of my city.

52  “I have been hunted like a bird

by those who were my enemies ^ewithout cause;

53  they flung me alive ^finto the pit⁴

and cast stones on me;

54  ^gwater closed over my head;

I said, ‘I am lost.’

55  “I called on your name, O Lord,

^hfrom the depths of the pit;

56  you heard my plea, ‘Do not close

your ear to my cry for help!’

57  You ⁱcame near when I called on you;

you said, ‘Do not fear!’

58  “You have ^jtaken up my cause, O Lord;

you have redeemed my life.

59  You have seen the wrong done to me, O Lord;

judge my cause.

60  You have seen all their vengeance,

all their ^kplots against me.

61  “You have heard their taunts, O Lord,

all their plots against me.

62  The lips and thoughts of my assailants

are against me all the day long.

63  Behold their sitting and their rising;

I am the object of their ^ltaunts.

64  “You will repay them,⁵ O Lord,

according to the work of their hands.

65  You will give them⁶ dullness of heart;

your curse will be⁷ on them.

66  You will pursue them⁸ in anger and destroy them

from under your heavens, O Lord.”⁹

4  How the gold has grown dim,

how the pure gold is changed!

The holy stones lie scattered

^mat the head of every street.

2  The precious sons of Zion,

worth their weight in fine gold,

how they are regarded as ⁿearthen pots,

the work of a potter’s hands!

3  Even jackals offer the breast;

they nurse their young;

but the daughter of my people has become cruel,

^olike the ostriches in the wilderness.

4  ^pThe tongue of the nursing infant sticks

to the roof of its mouth for thirst;

the children beg for food,

but no one gives to them.

5  Those who once feasted on delicacies

perish in the streets;

those who were brought up in purple

embrace ash heaps.

6  For the chastisement¹ of the daughter of my people has been greater

than the punishment² of ^qSodom,

which was ^roverthrown in a moment,

and no hands were wrung for her.³

7  Her princes were purer than snow,

^swhiter than milk;

their bodies were more ruddy than coral,

the beauty of their form⁴ was like sapphire.⁵

8  ^tNow their face is blacker than soot;

they are not recognized in the streets;

their ^uskin has shriveled on their bones;

it has become as dry as wood.

9  Happier were the victims of the sword

than the victims of hunger,

who wasted away, pierced

by lack of the fruits of the field.

10  The hands of compassionate women

have boiled their own children;

they became their food

during the destruction of the daughter of my people.

11  The Lord ^vgave full vent to his wrath;

he poured out his hot anger,

and he ^wkindled a fire in Zion

that consumed its foundations.

12  The kings of the earth did not believe,

nor any of the inhabitants of the world,

that foe or enemy could enter

the gates of Jerusalem.

13  This was for the sins of her prophets

and the iniquities of her priests,

who shed in the midst of her

the blood of the righteous.

14  They wandered, ^xblind, through the streets;

they were so defiled with blood

that no one was able to touch

their garments.

15  “Away! ^yUnclean!” people cried at them.

“Away! Away! Do not touch!”

So they became fugitives and wanderers;

people said among the nations,

“They shall stay with us no longer.”

16  The Lord himself⁶ has ^zscattered them;

he will regard them no more;

no honor was shown to the priests,

^ano favor to the elders.

17  ^bOur eyes failed, ever watching

vainly for help;

in our watching we watched

for a nation which could not save.

18  They dogged our steps

so that we could not walk in our streets;

our ^cend drew near; our days were numbered,

for our end had come.

19  Our pursuers were ^dswifter

than the eagles in the heavens;

they chased us on the mountains;

they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.

20  The breath of our nostrils, the Lord’s anointed,

was captured in their pits,

of whom we said, “Under his shadow

we shall live among the nations.”

21  Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom,

you who dwell in the land of ^eUz;

but ^fto you also the cup shall pass;

you shall become ^gdrunk and strip yourself bare.

22  The punishment of your iniquity, O daughter of Zion, is accomplished;

he will keep you in exile no longer;⁷

but ^hyour iniquity, O daughter of Edom, he will punish;

he will uncover your sins.

5  Remember, O Lord, what has befallen us;

look, and see our disgrace!

2  Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,

our homes to foreigners.

3  We have become orphans, fatherless;

our mothers are like widows.

4  We must pay for the water we drink;

the wood we get must be bought.

5  Our pursuers are at our necks;

we are weary; we are given no rest.

6  We have given the hand to Egypt, and to Assyria,

to get bread enough.

7  Our fathers sinned, and are no more;

and ⁱwe bear their iniquities.

8  Slaves rule over us;

there is none to deliver us from their hand.

9  We get our bread at the peril of our lives,

because of the sword in the wilderness.

10  Our ^jskin is hot as an oven

with the burning heat of famine.

11  Women are raped in Zion,

young women in the towns of Judah.

12  Princes are hung up by their hands;

^kno respect is shown to the elders.

13  Young men are compelled to grind at the mill,

and boys stagger under loads of wood.

14  The old men have left the city gate,

the young men their music.

15  The joy of our hearts has ceased;

our dancing has been turned ^lto mourning.

16  The ^mcrown has fallen from our head;

woe to us, for we have sinned!