1  ^aHow lonely sits the city

that was full of people!

How like ^ba widow has she become,

she who was great among the nations!

She who was ^ca princess among the provinces

has become ^da slave.

2  ^eShe weeps bitterly in the night,

with tears on her cheeks;

^famong all her lovers

she has ^gnone to comfort her;

^hall her friends have dealt treacherously with her;

they have become her enemies.

3  ⁱJudah has gone into exile because of affliction¹

and hard servitude;

^jshe dwells now among the nations,

^kbut finds no resting place;

her pursuers have all overtaken her

in the midst of her distress.²

4  The roads to Zion mourn,

for none come to ^lthe festival;

^mall her gates are desolate;

her priests ⁿgroan;

her virgins have been afflicted,³

and she herself suffers bitterly.

5  ^oHer foes have become the head;

her ^penemies prosper,

because ^qthe Lord has afflicted her

^rfor the multitude of her transgressions;

^sher 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

^tthat find no pasture;

they fled without strength

before the pursuer.

7  Jerusalem remembers

in the days of her affliction and wandering

^uall the precious things

that were hers from ^vdays of old.

When her people fell into the hand of the foe,

and there was none to help her,

her foes gloated over her;

they ^wmocked at her downfall.

8  ^xJerusalem sinned grievously;

therefore she became filthy;

all who honored her despise her,

^yfor they have seen her nakedness;

she herself ^zgroans

and turns her face away.

9  Her uncleanness was ^ain her skirts;

^bshe took no thought of her future;⁴

therefore her fall is terrible;

^cshe has no comforter.

“O Lord, behold my affliction,

for the enemy has ^dtriumphed!”

10  The enemy has stretched out his hands

over all her ^eprecious things;

for she has seen ^fthe nations

enter her sanctuary,

those whom you ^gforbade

to enter your congregation.

11  All her people ^zgroan

as ^hthey search for bread;

they trade their ^etreasures for ⁱfood

to revive their strength.

“Look, O Lord, and see,

for I am despised.”

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

^kLook and see

if there is any sorrow like my sorrow,

which was brought upon me,

which ^lthe Lord inflicted

on ^mthe day of his fierce anger.

13  “From on high he ⁿsent fire;

into my bones⁵ he made it descend;

^ohe spread a net for my feet;

he turned me back;

^phe has left me stunned,

faint all the day long.

14  “My transgressions were bound⁶ into ^qa yoke;

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;

^rthe Lord has trodden as in a winepress

the virgin daughter of Judah.

16  “For these things ^sI weep;

my eyes flow with tears;

for ^ta comforter is far from me,

one to ^urevive my spirit;

my children are desolate,

for the enemy has prevailed.”

17  ^vZion stretches out her hands,

but ^tthere 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  ^w“The Lord is in the right,

^xfor I have rebelled against his word;

but hear, all you peoples,

and see my suffering;

^ymy young women and my young men

have gone into captivity.

19  “I called to ^zmy lovers,

but they deceived me;

my priests and elders

perished in the city,

while ^athey sought food

to revive their strength.

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

^bmy stomach churns;

my heart is wrung within me,

because I have been very rebellious.

^cIn the street the sword bereaves;

in the house it is like death.

21  “They heard^{7 d}my groaning,

yet ^ethere is no one to comfort me.

All my enemies have heard of my trouble;

^fthey are glad that you have done it.

You have brought⁸ the day you announced;

^fnow let them be as I am.

22  ^g“Let all their evildoing come before you,

and deal with them

as ^hyou have dealt with me

because of all my transgressions;

for ^dmy groans are many,

and ⁱmy heart is faint.”

2  How the Lord in his anger

has set the daughter of Zion ^junder a cloud!

^kHe has cast down from heaven to earth

the splendor of Israel;

he has not remembered ^lhis footstool

in the day of his anger.

2  The Lord ^mhas swallowed up ⁿwithout mercy

all the habitations of Jacob;

in his wrath ^ohe has broken down

the strongholds of the daughter of Judah;

he has brought ^pdown to the ground ^pin dishonor

the kingdom ^qand its rulers.

3  He has cut down in ^rfierce anger

all ^sthe might of Israel;

^the has withdrawn from them his right hand

in the face of the enemy;

^uhe has burned like a flaming fire in Jacob,

consuming all around.

4  ^vHe has bent his bow like an enemy,

with his right hand set ^wlike 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  ^wThe Lord has become like an enemy;

^xhe has swallowed up Israel;

^yhe has swallowed up all its palaces;

he has laid in ruins its strongholds,

and he has multiplied in the daughter of Judah

^zmourning and lamentation.

6  He has laid waste his booth like a garden,

laid in ruins ^ahis meeting place;

^athe Lord has made Zion forget

festival and ^bSabbath,

and in his fierce indignation has spurned king and priest.

7  ^cThe Lord has scorned his altar,

^ddisowned his sanctuary;

^ehe has delivered into the hand of the enemy

the walls of her palaces;

^fthey raised a clamor in the house of the Lord

as on the day of festival.

8  ^gThe Lord determined to lay in ruins

^hthe wall of the daughter of Zion;

ⁱhe stretched out the measuring line;

he did not restrain his hand from destroying;

^jhe caused rampart and wall to lament;

^jthey languished together.

9  Her gates have sunk into the ground;

^khe has ruined ^kand broken her bars;

^lher king and princes are among the nations;

the law is no more,

and ^mher prophets find

no vision from the Lord.

10  The elders of the daughter of Zion

ⁿsit on the ground ^oin silence;

^pthey have thrown dust on their heads

and ^qput on sackcloth;

the young women of Jerusalem

have bowed their heads to the ground.

11  ^rMy eyes are spent with weeping;

^smy stomach churns;

^tmy bile is poured out to the ground

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

^vbecause infants and babies ^wfaint

in the streets of the city.

12  They cry to their mothers,

^x“Where is bread and wine?”

^was 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, ^yto what compare you,

O daughter of Jerusalem?

^yWhat can I liken to you, that I may comfort you,

O virgin daughter of Zion?

^zFor your ruin is vast as the sea;

who can heal you?

14  ^aYour prophets have seen for you

false and deceptive visions;

^bthey have not exposed your iniquity

to ^crestore your fortunes,

^dbut have seen for you ^eoracles

that are false and misleading.

15  All who pass along the way

clap their hands at you;

^fthey hiss and wag their heads

at the daughter of Jerusalem:

“Is this the city that was called

^gthe perfection of beauty,

^gthe joy of all the earth?”

16  ^hAll your enemies

rail against you;

they hiss, they gnash their teeth,

they cry: “We ⁱhave swallowed her!

Ah, this is the day we longed for;

now we have it; ^jwe see it!”

17  The Lord has done what he purposed;

he has carried out ^khis word,

which he commanded ^llong ago;

^mhe has thrown down ⁿwithout pity;

^ohe has made the enemy rejoice over you

and exalted the ^pmight of your foes.

18  Their heart cried to the Lord.

O ^qwall of the daughter of Zion,

^rlet tears stream down like a torrent

^sday and night!

^tGive yourself no rest,

^uyour eyes no respite!

19  “Arise, ^vcry out in the night,

at the beginning of the night watches!

^wPour out your heart like water

before the presence of the Lord!

^xLift your hands to him

for the lives of your children,

^ywho faint for hunger

at the head of every street.”

20  Look, O Lord, and see!

^zWith whom have you dealt thus?

^aShould women eat the fruit of their womb,

the children of ^btheir tender care?

Should ^cpriest and prophet be killed

in the sanctuary of the Lord?

21  In the dust of the streets

^dlie the young and the old;

^dmy young women and my young men

have fallen by the sword;

^eyou have killed them in the day of your anger,

slaughtering ^fwithout pity.

22  You summoned as if to ^ga festival day

^hmy terrors on every side,

ⁱand on the day of the anger of the Lord

no one escaped or survived;

^jthose whom I held and raised

my enemy destroyed.

3  ^kI am the man who has seen affliction

under the ^lrod of his wrath;

2  he has driven and brought me

^minto darkness 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 skin waste away;

ⁿhe has broken my bones;

5  ^ohe has besieged and enveloped me

with ^pbitterness and tribulation;

6  ^qhe has made me dwell in darkness

like the dead of long ago.

7  ^rHe has walled me about so that ^sI cannot escape;

he has made my chains heavy;

8  though ^tI call and cry for help,

he shuts out my prayer;

9  ^rhe has blocked my ways with blocks of stones;

he has made my paths crooked.

10  ^uHe is a bear lying in wait for me,

a lion in hiding;

11  ^vhe turned aside my steps and ^utore me to pieces;

^whe has made me desolate;

12  ^xhe bent his bow ^yand set me

as a target for his arrow.

13  He drove into my kidneys

^zthe arrows of his quiver;

14  ^aI have become the laughingstock of all peoples,

^bthe object of their taunts all day long.

15  ^cHe has filled me with bitterness;

he has sated me with ^dwormwood.

16  ^eHe has made my teeth grind on gravel,

and ^fmade me cower in ashes;

17  my soul is bereft of peace;

I have forgotten what happiness¹ is;

18  ^gso I say, “My endurance has perished;

so has my hope from the Lord.”

19  ^hRemember my affliction and my wanderings,

^dthe wormwood and ⁱthe gall!

20  My soul continually remembers it

^jand is bowed down within me.

21  But this I call to mind,

and ^ktherefore I have hope:

22  ^lThe steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;²

^lhis mercies never come to an end;

23  they are new ^mevery morning;

ⁿgreat is your faithfulness.

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

^k“therefore I will hope in him.”

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

to the soul who seeks him.

26  ^qIt is good that one should wait quietly

for the salvation of the Lord.

27  ^rIt is good for a man that he bear

the yoke ^sin his youth.

28  Let him ^tsit alone in silence

when it is laid on him;

29  ^ulet him put his mouth in the dust—

there may yet be hope;

30  ^vlet him give his cheek to the one who strikes,

and let him be filled with insults.

31  ^wFor the Lord will not

cast off forever,

32  but, though he ^xcause grief, ^yhe will have compassion

^zaccording to the abundance of his steadfast love;

33  ^afor he does not afflict from his heart

or ^bgrieve the children of men.

34  To crush underfoot

all ^cthe prisoners of the earth,

35  ^dto deny a man justice

in the presence of the Most High,

36  to subvert a man in his lawsuit,

^dthe Lord does not approve.

37  ^eWho has spoken and it came to pass,

unless the Lord has commanded it?

38  ^fIs it not from the mouth of the Most High

that good and bad come?

39  ^gWhy should a living man complain,

a man, about the punishment of his sins?

40  Let us test and examine our ways,

^hand return to the Lord!

41  ⁱLet us lift up our hearts and hands

to God in heaven:

42  ^j“We have transgressed and ^krebelled,

and you have not forgiven.

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

^lkilling without pity;

44  ^myou have wrapped yourself with a cloud

so that no prayer can pass through.

45  ⁿYou have made us scum and garbage

among the peoples.

46  ^o“All our enemies

open their mouths against us;

47  ^ppanic and pitfall have come upon us,

devastation and ^qdestruction;

48  ^rmy eyes flow with rivers of tears

because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.

49  ^r“My eyes will flow without ceasing,

without respite,

50  ^suntil the Lord from heaven

looks down and sees;

51  my eyes cause me grief

at the fate of all the daughters of my city.

52  ^t“I have been hunted ^ulike a bird

by those who were my enemies ^vwithout cause;

53  ^wthey flung me alive into the pit

^xand cast stones on me;

54  ^ywater closed over my head;

I said, ^z‘I am lost.’

55  ^a“I called on your name, O Lord,

from the depths of the pit;

56  ^byou heard my plea, ‘Do not close

your ear to my cry for help!’

57  ^cYou came near when I called on you;

you said, ^d‘Do not fear!’

58  “You have ^etaken up my cause, ^fO Lord;

you have ^eredeemed my life.

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

judge my cause.

60  You have seen all their vengeance,

all ^htheir plots against me.

61  ⁱ“You have heard their taunts, O Lord,

all ^htheir plots against me.

62  The lips and thoughts ^jof my assailants

are against me all the day long.

63  ^kBehold their sitting and their rising;

^lI am the object of their taunts.

64  ^m“You will repay them,³ O Lord,

ⁿaccording to the work of their hands.

65  You will give them⁴ dullness of heart;

your curse will be⁵ on them.

66  You will pursue them⁶ in anger and ^odestroy them

from under ^pyour heavens, O Lord.”⁷

4  ^qHow the gold has grown dim,

how the pure gold is changed!

The holy stones lie scattered

^rat the head of every street.

2  The precious sons of Zion,

worth their weight in ^sfine gold,

how they are regarded as ^tearthen 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,

like the ostriches in the wilderness.

4  The tongue of the nursing infant ^usticks

to the roof of its mouth for thirst;

^vthe children beg for food,

but no one gives to them.

5  Those who once feasted on delicacies

perish in the streets;

^wthose who were brought up in purple

embrace ash heaps.

6  ^xFor the chastisement¹ of the daughter of my people has been greater

than the punishment² of Sodom,

^ywhich was overthrown in a moment,

and no hands were wrung for her.³

7  Her princes were purer than snow,

whiter than milk;

their bodies were more ruddy than coral,

the beauty of their form⁴ was like sapphire.⁵

8  ^zNow their face is blacker than soot;

they are not recognized in the streets;

their skin 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  ^aThe hands of ^bcompassionate women

^chave boiled their own children;

^dthey became their food

during the destruction of the daughter of my people.

11  ^eThe Lord gave full vent to his wrath;

he poured out his hot anger,

and ^fhe kindled a fire in Zion

that consumed its foundations.

12  ^gThe 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 ^hthe sins of her prophets

and ^hthe iniquities of her priests,

who shed in the midst of her

the blood of the righteous.

14  ⁱThey wandered, blind, through the streets;

they were so defiled with blood

^jthat no one was able to touch

their garments.

15  “Away! ^kUnclean!” 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  ^lThe Lord himself⁶ has scattered them;

he will regard them no more;

^mno honor was shown to the priests,

ⁿno favor to the elders.

17  ^oOur eyes failed, ever watching

^ovainly for help;

in our watching we watched

for ^pa nation which could not save.

18  ^qThey dogged our steps

so that we could not walk in our streets;

^rour end drew near; our days were numbered,

for our end had come.

19  Our pursuers were ^sswifter

than the eagles in the heavens;

they chased us on the mountains;

they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.

20  ^tThe breath of our nostrils, ^uthe Lord’s anointed,

was captured ^vin their pits,

of whom we said, ^w“Under his shadow

we shall live among the nations.”

21  ^xRejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom,

you who dwell in ^ythe land of Uz;

but to you also ^zthe cup shall pass;

you shall become drunk and strip yourself bare.

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

he will keep you in exile no longer;⁷

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

he will uncover your sins.

5  ^cRemember, O Lord, what has befallen us;

look, and see ^dour disgrace!

2  ^eOur 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  ^fOur pursuers are at our necks;

we are weary; we are given no rest.

6  We have given the hand to ^gEgypt, and to ^gAssyria,