| 1 | How solitary
and
lonely sits the city [Jerusalem] that was [once] full of people! How like a widow has she become! She who was
[a]great among the nations and princess among the provinces has become a tributary [in servitude]! |
| 2 | She weeps bitterly in the night, and her tears are [constantly] on her cheeks. Among all her lovers (allies) she has no one to comfort her. All her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they have become her enemies. |
| 3 | Judah has gone into exile [to escape] from the affliction and laborious servitude [of the homeland]. She dwells among the [heathen] nations, but she finds no rest; all her persecutors overtook her amid the [dire] straits [of her distress]. |
| 4 | The roads to Zion mourn, because no one comes to the solemn assembly
or
the appointed feasts. All her gates are desolate, her priests sigh
and
groan, her maidens are grieved
and
vexed, and she herself is in bitterness. |
| 5 | Her adversaries have become the head; her enemies prosper. For the Lord has afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions; her young children have gone into captivity before the enemy. |
| 6 | From the Daughter of Zion all her beauty
and
majesty have departed. Her princes have become like harts that find no pasture; they have fled without strength before the pursuer. |
| 7 | Jerusalem [earnestly] remembers in the days of her affliction, in the days of her [compulsory] wanderings
and
her bitterness, all the pleasant
and
precious things that she had from the days of old. When her people fell into
and
at the hands of the adversary, and there was none to help her, the enemy [gloated as they] looked at her, and they mocked at her desolations
and
downfall. |
| 8 | Jerusalem has grievously sinned; therefore she has become an unclean thing
and
has been removed. All who honored her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness; yes, she herself groans
and
sighs and turns [her face] away. |
| 9 | Her filthiness was in
and
on her skirts; she did not [seriously and earnestly] consider her final end. Therefore she has come down [from throne to slavery] singularly
and
astonishingly; she has no comforter. O Lord [cries Jerusalem], look at my affliction, for the enemy has magnified himself [in triumph]! |
| 10 | The adversary has spread out his hand upon all her precious
and
desirable things; for she has seen the nations enter her sanctuary [of the temple]—
[b]when You commanded that they should not even enter Your congregation [in the outer courts]. |
| 11 | All her people groan
and
sigh, seeking for bread; they have given their desirable
and
precious things [in exchange] for food to revive their strength
and
bring back life. See, O Lord, and consider how wretched
and
lightly esteemed, how vile
and
abominable, I have become! |
| 12 | Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow which was dealt out to me, with which the Lord has afflicted me in the day of His fierce anger! |
| 13 | From above He has sent fire into my bones, and it prevailed against them. He has spread a net for my feet; He has turned me back. He has made me hopelessly miserable and faint all the day long. |
| 14 | The yoke of my transgressions is bound by His hand; they were twined together; they were set upon my neck. He has made my strength fail
and
[me to] stumble; the Lord has delivered me into the hands of those I am unable to resist
or
withstand. |
| 15 | The Lord has made of no account all my [Jerusalem’s] mighty men in the midst of me; He has proclaimed a set time against me to crush my young men. The Lord has trodden as in a winepress the Virgin Daughter of Judah. |
| 16 | For these things I weep; my eyes overflow with tears, because a comforter, one who could refresh
and
restore my soul, is far from me. My children are desolate
and
perishing, for the enemy has prevailed. |
| 17 | Zion stretches forth her hands, but there is no comforter for her. The Lord has commanded concerning
and
against Jacob that his neighbors should be his adversaries; Jerusalem has become a filthy thing among them [an object of contempt]. |
| 18 | The Lord is righteous (just and in the right); for I have rebelled against His commandment (His word). Hear, I pray you, all you peoples, and look at my sorrow
and
suffering; my maidens and my young men have gone into captivity. |
| 19 | I [Jerusalem] called to my lovers [allies], but they deceived me. My priests and my elders expired in the city while they sought food to save their lives. |
| 20 | Behold, O Lord, how distressed I am! My vital parts (emotions) are in tumult
and
are deeply disturbed; my heart cannot rest
and
is violently agitated within me, for I have grievously rebelled. Outside the house the sword bereaves, at home there is [famine, pestilence] death! |
| 21 | [My foes] have heard that I [Jerusalem] sigh
and
groan, that I have no comforter [in You]. All my enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad [O Lord] that You have done it. You will bring the day [of Judah’s punishment] that you have foretold
and
proclaimed; [it involves also my foes’ punishment] and they will become like me. |
| 22 | Let all their wickedness come before You; and deal with them as You have dealt with me because of all my transgressions; for my sighs
and
groans are many and my heart is faint. |
Cross references:
-
Lamentations 1:2 : Jer. 3:1; 4:30.
-
Lamentations 1:5 : Jer. 30:14, 15; 52:28; Dan. 9:7-14.
-
Lamentations 1:10 : Deut. 23:3; Jer. 51:51; Ezek. 44:7, 9.
-
Lamentations 1:14 : Deut. 28:48.
-
Lamentations 1:16 : Lam. 1:21.
-
Lamentations 1:21 : Isa. 14:5, 6; Jer. 30:16.
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