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Lamentations 1*

Sorrow in Jerusalem

1Jerusalem, once so full of people,

is now deserted.

She who was once great among the nations

now sits alone like a widow.

Once the queen of all the earth,

she is now a slave.

2She sobs through the night;

tears stream down her cheeks.

Among all her lovers,

there is no one left to comfort her.

All her friends have betrayed her

and become her enemies.

3Judah has been led away into captivity,

oppressed with cruel slavery.

She lives among foreign nations

and has no place of rest.

Her enemies have chased her down,

and she has nowhere to turn.

4The roads to Jerusalem* are in mourning,

for crowds no longer come to celebrate the festivals.

The city gates are silent,

her priests groan,

her young women are crying—

how bitter is her fate!

5Her oppressors have become her masters,

and her enemies prosper,

for the Lord has punished Jerusalem

for her many sins.

Her children have been captured

and taken away to distant lands.

6All the majesty of beautiful Jerusalem*

has been stripped away.

Her princes are like starving deer

searching for pasture.

They are too weak to run

from the pursuing enemy.

7In the midst of her sadness and wandering,

Jerusalem remembers her ancient splendor.

But now she has fallen to her enemy,

and there is no one to help her.

Her enemy struck her down

and laughed as she fell.

8Jerusalem has sinned greatly,

so she has been tossed away like a filthy rag.

All who once honored her now despise her,

for they have seen her stripped naked and humiliated.

All she can do is groan

and hide her face.

9She defiled herself with immorality

and gave no thought to her future.

Now she lies in the gutter

with no one to lift her out.

“Lord, see my misery,” she cries.

“The enemy has triumphed.”

10The enemy has plundered her completely,

taking every precious thing she owns.

She has seen foreigners violate her sacred Temple,

the place the Lord had forbidden them to enter.

Lamentations 2

God’s Anger at Sin

1The Lord in his anger

has cast a dark shadow over beautiful Jerusalem.*

The fairest of Israel’s cities lies in the dust,

thrown down from the heights of heaven.

In his day of great anger,

the Lord has shown no mercy even to his Temple.*

2Without mercy the Lord has destroyed

every home in Israel.*

In his anger he has broken down

the fortress walls of beautiful Jerusalem.*

He has brought them to the ground,

dishonoring the kingdom and its rulers.

3All the strength of Israel

vanishes beneath his fierce anger.

The Lord has withdrawn his protection

as the enemy attacks.

He consumes the whole land of Israel

like a raging fire.

4He bends his bow against his people,

as though he were their enemy.

His strength is used against them

to kill their finest youth.

His fury is poured out like fire

on beautiful Jerusalem.*

5Yes, the Lord has vanquished Israel

like an enemy.

He has destroyed her palaces

and demolished her fortresses.

He has brought unending sorrow and tears

upon beautiful Jerusalem.

6He has broken down his Temple

as though it were merely a garden shelter.

The Lord has blotted out all memory

of the holy festivals and Sabbath days.

Kings and priests fall together

before his fierce anger.

7The Lord has rejected his own altar;

he despises his own sanctuary.

He has given Jerusalem’s palaces

to her enemies.

They shout in the Lord’s Temple

as though it were a day of celebration.

8The Lord was determined

to destroy the walls of beautiful Jerusalem.

He made careful plans for their destruction,

then did what he had planned.

Therefore, the ramparts and walls

have fallen down before him.

17But it is the Lord who did just as he planned.

He has fulfilled the promises of disaster

he made long ago.

He has destroyed Jerusalem without mercy.

He has caused her enemies to gloat over her

and has given them power over her.