2 The Lord was very angry.
He wanted Zion's people to be ashamed.
Zion was the most beautiful city in Israel. [ b ]
But he has put it down to the ground from its high place.
Zion was like a place where he had rested his feet. [ c ]
Now that he is angry, he has forgotten about that.
2 The Lord has destroyed all the houses where Jacob's people lived.
He decided that he must punish them.
Because he is angry,
he has destroyed all Judah's strong towns.
Yes, he has destroyed all the buildings, and he has killed the rulers and all the people.
3 Yes, because he is very angry,
he has destroyed Israel's whole army.
He did not help them when they were fighting the enemy.
He was like a big hot fire
that burned Jacob's people from all sides.
4 He prepared his bow and his arrows, like an enemy ready to kill people.
Like an enemy, he has killed all our strong men that once we were proud of.
He has shown how angry he was.
He has sent a fire to destroy all Zion's houses.
5 The Lord has become like an enemy.
He has destroyed Israel
and all the beautiful houses there.
He has destroyed all the strong towns that had walls.
He has caused Judah's people to weep.
They are very sad.
6 He has knocked down his own holy house
as easily as someone can knock down a hut in a garden.
He has destroyed this place where people once met him.
The Lord has caused Zion's people to forget
the special events and the Sabbath days in his holy house. [ d ]
He was very angry.
So he thought that our king and our priests were not important.
He refused to help them.
7 His holy house and his altar there
no longer give pleasure to the Lord.
He has given Zion's most beautiful houses to the enemy. [ e ]
They shout in the holy house of the Lord
as people shout on a special holy day.
8 The Lord decided to destroy the strong walls of Zion.
He carefully broke away each stone.
It causes us to weep when we look at those walls.
He destroyed them all.
He destroyed the inside walls and he destroyed the strong outside walls.
9 Zion's gates fell down on the ground.
He destroyed them and he has broken them in pieces.
The enemies have taken away our king
and his sons to a foreign country.
The people no longer understand God's Law. [ f ]
The Lord does not give messages to his prophets any more.
10 Zion's leaders sit on the ground and they are saying nothing.
They have dressed themselves in sackcloth
and they throw dirt on their own heads. [ g ]
They are showing everyone that they are very sad.
The young women of Jerusalem can only look down to the ground,
because they are very sad too.
11 I have cried so much that my eyes are red now.
Even the parts inside my body hurt,
because my people are dying.
I feel ill because I am so sad.
The children and babies fall in the city's streets
because they are so weak.
12 ‘Where has all the food and drink gone?’
the hungry children ask their mothers.
Then they fall down in pain on the streets of the city.
They die in their mothers' arms.
13 I want to help you people of Jerusalem,
but there is nothing that I can say to you.
I do not know about anything like what has happened to you.
God has destroyed Zion completely!
I do not know anyone who can make you people better.
14 Your prophets have promised you many good things.
Those good things will not happen.
They should have told you that you should not do wrong things.
If they had told you that, none of these troubles would have happened.
The prophets do not tell you true messages from God
and their dreams are false. [ h ]
15 Everyone who goes by laughs at you.
They are happy because you are sad.
They see how the enemy has destroyed everything in Jerusalem.
‘Surely this cannot be the city that men called most beautiful,’ they say.
‘People have said that this city is the best city on earth.’
16 All your enemies make noises through their teeth
because they are very happy.
‘We have won!’ they say.
‘We have waited for this day.
Now we have beaten you!
Now we have seen it!’
17 The Lord has done what he decided to do.
Yes, he has done what he told you about a long time ago.
He has destroyed your city and he has not felt sorry about it.
He has caused your enemies to be happy.
He has made them strong
so that they could win against you. [ i ]
18 Day and night, cause your tears to run like a river round the walls of Zion.
Cry to the Lord all the time, you people.
Do not rest.
Do not let your eyes stop crying.
19 Stand up and pray for God's help.
Talk to God all night.
Pour out your words and thoughts to the Lord
as you pour out water from a jar.
Lift up your hands to him,
and ask him to save the lives of your children.
They fall down to die at the end of every street
because they are so hungry. [ j ]
20 ‘Look at us, Lord ,’ you should say.
‘You have done all this to your people.
Women eat their own children now!
They eat the children that they took care of.
People have killed your own priests and prophets
in your holy house!
21 Young people and old people lie dead in the streets.
The enemy has killed the young men and women with long knives.
But it was really you who killed them.
You were very angry with us.
So you killed them and you did not feel sorry.
22 You asked our enemies to come round us
as people come to a special feast.
They killed our people because you were angry.
Nobody could hide or run away.
They all died.
We saw the enemy kill our own children.’
2 Look how the Lord has covered daughter Zion [ a ]
with the cloud of his anger.
He has thrown her, the glory of Israel,
from the sky to the ground.
In his anger he showed no care even for the Temple
where he rests his feet. [ b ]
2 The Lord destroyed the houses of Jacob.
He destroyed them without mercy.
In his anger he destroyed the fortresses of Daughter Judah.
He threw the kingdom of Judah and its rulers to the ground.
He ruined the kingdom of Judah.
3 He was angry, and he destroyed
all the strength of Israel.
He took away his right hand from Israel.
He did this when the enemy came.
He burned like a flaming fire in Jacob.
He was like a fire that burns all around.
4 He bent his bow like an enemy.
He held his sword in his right hand.
He killed all the good-looking men of Judah.
He killed them as if they were the enemy.
He poured out his anger
like a fire on the tents of Zion.
5 The Lord has become like an enemy.
He has swallowed up Israel.
He has swallowed up all her palaces
and all her fortresses.
He has made much sadness and crying
for the dead in Daughter Judah.
6 He pulled up his own tent [ c ]
as if it were a garden.
He has ruined the place where the people
came together to worship him.
The Lord has made people forget
the special assemblies and special days of rest [ d ] in Zion.
He rejected the king and the priests.
He was angry and rejected them.
7 He rejected his altar,
and he left his holy place of worship.
He let the enemy pull down the walls
of the palaces of Jerusalem.
The enemy shouted with joy in the Lord ’s Temple.
They made noise as though it were a festival.
8 The Lord planned to destroy
the wall of Daughter Zion.
He marked the wall with a measuring line.
He didn’t stop himself from destroying it.
He made all the walls cry out in sadness.
Together they wasted away.
9 Jerusalem’s gates have sunk into the ground.
The bars on her gates are completely destroyed.
Her king and princes have been taken to other nations.
The teaching of the law has stopped.
And her prophets no longer receive
visions from the Lord .
10 The elders of Zion sit on the ground.
They sit on the ground and are quiet.
They pour dust on their heads.
They put on sackcloth.
The young women of Jerusalem
bow their heads to the ground in sorrow.
11 My eyes are worn out with tears,
and my insides are upset.
My heart feels like it has been poured on the ground;
I feel this way because of the destruction of my people.
Children and babies are fainting
in the public squares of the city.
12 They ask their mothers,
“Where is the bread and wine?”
as they pour out their life in their mother’s laps.
13 My dear Jerusalem, what can I say about you?
What can I compare you to?
What can I say you are like?
How can I comfort you, city of Zion?
You have been hurt much too badly
for anyone to heal.
14 Your prophets saw visions for you,
but their visions were only worthless lies.
They didn’t speak against your sins.
They didn’t try to make things better.
They spoke messages for you,
but they were false messages that fooled you.
15 Those who pass by on the road
clap their hands and laugh at you.
They make fun of Jerusalem,
shaking their heads at the sight of her.
They ask, “Is this the city that people called
‘The Most Beautiful City’
and ‘The Joy of all the Earth’?”
16 All your enemies laugh at you.
They whistle and grind their teeth at you.
They say, “We have swallowed them up!
This is the day we were hoping for.
We have finally seen this happen!”
17 The Lord did what he planned to do.
He did what he said he would do.
He did what he commanded a long time ago.
He destroyed, and he had no pity.
He made your enemies happy because of what happened to you.
He made your enemies strong.
18 Cry out with all your heart [ e ] to the Lord!
Jerusalem, let tears roll down your walls.
Let your tears flow like a stream day and night.
Don’t stop crying
or let your eyes dry.
19 Get up throughout the night and cry for help.
Let your sorrow pour out before the Lord like water.
Lift up your hands in prayer to him.
Ask him to let your children live.
They are starving to death on every street corner.
20 Look at us, Lord !
Have you ever treated anyone else so badly?
Is it right for women to eat their own babies,
the children they have cared for?
Should priests and prophets be killed
in the Temple of the Lord?
21 Young men and old men
lie on the ground in the streets of the city.
My young women and young men
have been killed by the sword.
You killed them on the day of your anger.
You killed them without mercy!
22 You invited terror to come to me from all around.
You invited terror as though you were inviting it to a festival.
No one escaped on the day of the Lord ’s anger.
My enemy killed the people who I raised and brought up.
2 How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and remembered not his footstool in the day of his anger!
2 The Lord hath swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and hath not pitied: he hath thrown down in his wrath the strong holds of the daughter of Judah; he hath brought them down to the ground: he hath polluted the kingdom and the princes thereof.
3 He hath cut off in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel: he hath drawn back his right hand from before the enemy, and he burned against Jacob like a flaming fire, which devoureth round about.
4 He hath bent his bow like an enemy: he stood with his right hand as an adversary, and slew all that were pleasant to the eye in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion: he poured out his fury like fire.
5 The Lord was as an enemy: he hath swallowed up Israel, he hath swallowed up all her palaces: he hath destroyed his strong holds, and hath increased in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation.
6 And he hath violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were of a garden: he hath destroyed his places of the assembly: the Lord hath caused the solemn feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion, and hath despised in the indignation of his anger the king and the priest.
7 The Lord hath cast off his altar, he hath abhorred his sanctuary, he hath given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; they have made a noise in the house of the Lord , as in the day of a solemn feast.
8 The Lord hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion: he hath stretched out a line, he hath not withdrawn his hand from destroying: therefore he made the rampart and the wall to lament; they languished together.
9 Her gates are sunk into the ground; he hath destroyed and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no more; her prophets also find no vision from the Lord .
10 The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground, and keep silence: they have cast up dust upon their heads; they have girded themselves with sackcloth: the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.
11 Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, my liver is poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people; because the children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the city.
12 They say to their mothers, Where is corn and wine? when they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul was poured out into their mothers' bosom.
13 What thing shall I take to witness for thee? what thing shall I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? what shall I equal to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? for thy breach is great like the sea: who can heal thee?
14 Thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee: and they have not discovered thine iniquity, to turn away thy captivity; but have seen for thee false burdens and causes of banishment.
15 All that pass by clap their hands at thee; they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men call The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth?
16 All thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee: they hiss and gnash the teeth: they say, We have swallowed her up: certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen it.
17 The Lord hath done that which he had devised; he hath fulfilled his word that he had commanded in the days of old: he hath thrown down, and hath not pitied: and he hath caused thine enemy to rejoice over thee, he hath set up the horn of thine adversaries.
18 Their heart cried unto the Lord , O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night: give thyself no rest; let not the apple of thine eye cease.
19 Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the watches pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord : lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children, that faint for hunger in the top of every street.
20 Behold, O Lord , and consider to whom thou hast done this. Shall the women eat their fruit, and children of a span long? shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?
21 The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets: my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword; thou hast slain them in the day of thine anger; thou hast killed, and not pitied.
22 Thou hast called as in a solemn day my terrors round about, so that in the day of the Lord 's anger none escaped nor remained: those that I have swaddled and brought up hath mine enemy consumed.
2 How the Lord has [ a ] ( A ) covered the daughter of Zion
With a cloud in His anger!
He has ( B ) hurled
The ( C ) glory of Israel from heaven to earth,
And has not remembered His ( D ) footstool
In the day of His anger.
2 The Lord has [ b ] ( E ) destroyed; He has not spared
All the settlements of Jacob.
In His wrath He has ( F ) overthrown
The strongholds of the daughter of Judah,
He has ( G ) hurled them down to the ground;
He has ( H ) profaned the kingdom and its leaders.
3 In fierce anger He has cut off
[ c ] All the ( I ) strength of Israel;
He has ( J ) pulled back His right hand
From the enemy.
And He has ( K ) burned in Jacob like a flaming fire
Consuming on all sides.
4 He has bent His ( L ) bow like an enemy;
His right hand is positioned like an adversary,
And He has killed everything that was ( M ) pleasant to the eye.
In the tent of the daughter of Zion
He has ( N ) poured out His wrath like fire.
5 The Lord has become like an ( O ) enemy.
He has ( P ) engulfed Israel;
He has engulfed all its ( Q ) palaces,
He has destroyed its strongholds
And ( R ) caused great mourning and grieving in the daughter of Judah.
6 And He has treated His [ d ] tabernacle violently, like a despised garden;
He has ( S ) destroyed His appointed [ e ] meeting place.
The Lord has ( T ) caused
The appointed feast and Sabbath in Zion to be forgotten,
And He has ( U ) despised king and priest
In the indignation of His anger.
7 The Lord has ( V ) rejected His altar,
He has [ f ] repudiated His sanctuary;
He ( W ) has handed over
The walls of her palaces to the enemy.
They have made a ( X ) noise in the house of the Lord
As on the day of an appointed feast.
8 The Lord determined to destroy
The wall of the daughter of Zion.
He has ( Y ) stretched out a line,
He has not restrained His hand from [ g ] destroying,
And He has ( Z ) caused rampart and wall to mourn;
They have languished together.
9 Her ( AA ) gates have sunk into the ground,
He has destroyed and broken her bars.
Her king and her leaders are among the nations;
The ( AB ) Law is gone.
Her prophets, too, find
( AC ) No vision from the Lord .
10 The elders of the daughter of Zion
( AD ) Sit on the ground and [ h ] ( AE ) are silent.
They have thrown ( AF ) dust on their heads;
They have put on ( AG ) sackcloth.
The ( AH ) virgins of Jerusalem
Have bowed their heads to the ground.
11 My ( AI ) eyes fail because of tears,
My [ i ] ( AJ ) spirit is greatly troubled;
My [ j ] ( AK ) heart is poured out on the earth
( AL ) Because of the [ k ] destruction of the daughter of my people,
When ( AM ) little ones and infants languish
In the streets of the city.
12 They say to their mothers,
“ ( AN ) Where is grain and wine?”
As they faint like a wounded person
In the streets of the city,
As their ( AO ) lives are poured out
[ l ] In their mothers’ arms.
13 How shall I admonish you?
What ( AP ) shall I compare to you,
Daughter of Jerusalem?
What shall I liken to you as I comfort you,
( AQ ) Virgin daughter of Zion?
For your collapse is as vast as the sea;
Who can ( AR ) heal you?
14 Your ( AS ) prophets have seen for you
Worthless and deceptive visions ;
And they have not ( AT ) exposed your wrongdoing
So as to restore you from captivity,
But they have ( AU ) seen for you worthless and misleading pronouncements.
15 All who pass along the way
( AV ) Clap their hands in ridicule at you;
They ( AW ) [ m ] hiss and shake their heads
At the daughter of Jerusalem:
“Is this the city of which they said,
‘ ( AX ) Perfect in beauty,
( AY ) A joy to all the earth’?”
16 All ( AZ ) your enemies
Have opened their mouths wide against you;
They [ n ] hiss and ( BA ) gnash their teeth.
They say, “We have ( BB ) engulfed her !
This certainly is the ( BC ) day which we awaited;
We have reached it , we have seen it !”
17 The Lord has ( BD ) done what He determined;
He has accomplished His word
Which He commanded from days of old.
He has torn down ( BE ) without sparing,
And He has helped the enemy to ( BF ) rejoice over you;
He has ( BG ) exalted the [ o ] might of your adversaries.
18 Their ( BH ) heart cried out to the Lord:
“You ( BI ) wall of the daughter of Zion,
Let your ( BJ ) tears stream down like a river day and night;
Give yourself no relief,
Let [ p ] your eyes have no rest.
19 Arise, whimper in the ( BK ) night
At the beginning of the night watches;
( BL ) Pour out your heart like water
Before the presence of the Lord;
Raise your hands to Him
For the ( BM ) life of your little ones
Who ( BN ) languish because of hunger
At the head of every street.
20 See, Lord , and look!
With ( BO ) whom have You dealt this way?
Should women really ( BP ) eat their [ q ] children,
The little ones who were [ r ] born healthy?
Should ( BQ ) priest and prophet really be killed
In the sanctuary of the Lord?
21 On the ground in the streets
Lie ( BR ) young and old;
My ( BS ) virgins and my young men
Have fallen by the sword.
You have put them to death on the day of Your anger,
You have slaughtered, ( BT ) without sparing.
22 You called as on the day of an appointed feast
My ( BU ) terrors on every side;
And there was ( BV ) no one who survived or escaped
On the day of the Lord ’ s anger.
As for those ( BW ) whom I brought forth healthy and whom I raised,
My enemy annihilated them.”
2 [ a ] How the Lord has covered Daughter Zion
with the cloud of his anger [ b ] ! ( A )
He has hurled down the splendor of Israel
from heaven to earth;
he has not remembered his footstool ( B )
in the day of his anger. ( C )
2 Without pity ( D ) the Lord has swallowed ( E ) up
all the dwellings of Jacob;
in his wrath he has torn down
the strongholds ( F ) of Daughter Judah.
He has brought her kingdom and its princes
down to the ground ( G ) in dishonor.
3 In fierce anger he has cut off
every horn [ c ] [ d ] ( H ) of Israel.
He has withdrawn his right hand ( I )
at the approach of the enemy.
He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire
that consumes everything around it. ( J )
4 Like an enemy he has strung his bow; ( K )
his right hand is ready.
Like a foe he has slain
all who were pleasing to the eye; ( L )
he has poured out his wrath ( M ) like fire ( N )
on the tent ( O ) of Daughter Zion.
5 The Lord is like an enemy; ( P )
he has swallowed up Israel.
He has swallowed up all her palaces
and destroyed her strongholds. ( Q )
He has multiplied mourning and lamentation ( R )
for Daughter Judah. ( S )
6 He has laid waste his dwelling like a garden;
he has destroyed ( T ) his place of meeting. ( U )
The Lord has made Zion forget
her appointed festivals and her Sabbaths; ( V )
in his fierce anger he has spurned
both king and priest. ( W )
7 The Lord has rejected his altar
and abandoned his sanctuary. ( X )
He has given the walls of her palaces ( Y )
into the hands of the enemy;
they have raised a shout in the house of the Lord
as on the day of an appointed festival. ( Z )
8 The Lord determined to tear down
the wall around Daughter Zion. ( AA )
He stretched out a measuring line ( AB )
and did not withhold his hand from destroying.
He made ramparts ( AC ) and walls lament;
together they wasted away. ( AD )
9 Her gates ( AE ) have sunk into the ground;
their bars ( AF ) he has broken and destroyed.
Her king and her princes are exiled ( AG ) among the nations,
the law ( AH ) is no more,
and her prophets ( AI ) no longer find
visions ( AJ ) from the Lord .
10 The elders of Daughter Zion
sit on the ground in silence; ( AK )
they have sprinkled dust ( AL ) on their heads ( AM )
and put on sackcloth. ( AN )
The young women of Jerusalem
have bowed their heads to the ground. ( AO )
11 My eyes fail from weeping, ( AP )
I am in torment within ( AQ ) ;
my heart ( AR ) is poured out ( AS ) on the ground
because my people are destroyed, ( AT )
because children and infants faint ( AU )
in the streets of the city.
12 They say to their mothers,
“Where is bread and wine?” ( AV )
as they faint like the wounded
in the streets of the city,
as their lives ebb away ( AW )
in their mothers’ arms. ( AX )
13 What can I say for you? ( AY )
With what can I compare you,
Daughter ( AZ ) Jerusalem?
To what can I liken you,
that I may comfort you,
Virgin Daughter Zion? ( BA )
Your wound is as deep as the sea. ( BB )
Who can heal you?
14 The visions of your prophets
were false ( BC ) and worthless;
they did not expose your sin
to ward off your captivity. ( BD )
The prophecies they gave you
were false and misleading. ( BE )
15 All who pass your way
clap their hands at you; ( BF )
they scoff ( BG ) and shake their heads ( BH )
at Daughter Jerusalem: ( BI )
“Is this the city that was called
the perfection of beauty, ( BJ )
the joy of the whole earth?” ( BK )
16 All your enemies open their mouths
wide against you; ( BL )
they scoff and gnash their teeth ( BM )
and say, “We have swallowed her up. ( BN )
This is the day we have waited for;
we have lived to see it.” ( BO )
17 The Lord has done what he planned;
he has fulfilled ( BP ) his word,
which he decreed long ago. ( BQ )
He has overthrown you without pity, ( BR )
he has let the enemy gloat over you, ( BS )
he has exalted the horn [ e ] of your foes. ( BT )
18 The hearts of the people
cry out to the Lord. ( BU )
You walls of Daughter Zion, ( BV )
let your tears ( BW ) flow like a river
day and night; ( BX )
give yourself no relief,
your eyes no rest. ( BY )
19 Arise, cry out in the night,
as the watches of the night begin;
pour out your heart ( BZ ) like water
in the presence of the Lord. ( CA )
Lift up your hands ( CB ) to him
for the lives of your children,
who faint ( CC ) from hunger
at every street corner.
20 “Look, Lord , and consider:
Whom have you ever treated like this?
Should women eat their offspring, ( CD )
the children they have cared for? ( CE )
Should priest and prophet be killed ( CF )
in the sanctuary of the Lord? ( CG )
