Her gates have sunk into the ground, He has destroyed and broken her bars. Her king and her princes are among the nations; The law is no more. Also, her prophets find No vision from the LORD.
The elders of the daughter of Zion Sit on the ground, they are silent. They have thrown dust on their heads; They have girded themselves with sackcloth. The virgins of Jerusalem Have bowed their heads to the ground.
My eyes fail because of tears, My spirit is greatly troubled; My heart is poured out on the earth Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, When little ones and infants faint In the streets of the city.
They say to their mothers, “Where is grain 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.
How shall I admonish you? To what shall I compare you, O daughter of Jerusalem? To what shall I liken you as I comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For your ruin is as vast as the sea; Who can heal you?
All who pass along the way Clap their hands in derision at you; They hiss and shake their heads At the daughter of Jerusalem, “Is this the city of which they said, ‘The perfection of beauty, A joy to all the earth’?”
All your enemies Have opened their mouths wide against you; They hiss and gnash their teeth. They say, “We have swallowed her up! Surely this is the day for which we waited; We have reached it, we have seen it.”
The LORD has done what He purposed; He has accomplished His word Which He commanded from days of old. He has thrown down without sparing, And He has caused the enemy to rejoice over you; He has exalted the might of your adversaries.
Their heart cried out to the Lord, “O wall of the daughter of Zion, Let your tears run down like a river day and night; Give yourself no relief, Let your eyes have no rest.
“Arise, cry aloud in the night At the beginning of the night watches; Pour out your heart like water Before the presence of the Lord; Lift up your hands to Him For the life of your little ones Who are faint because of hunger At the head of every street.”
See, O LORD, and look! With whom have You dealt thus? Should women eat their offspring, The little ones who were born healthy? Should priest and prophet be slain In the sanctuary of the Lord?
On the ground in the streets Lie young and old; My virgins and my young men Have fallen by the sword. You have slain them in the day of Your anger, You have slaughtered, not sparing.
You called as in the day of an appointed feast My terrors on every side; And there was no one who escaped or survived In the day of the LORD’S anger. Those whom I bore and reared, My enemy annihilated them.
I am the man who has seen affliction Because of the rod of His wrath.
Surely against me He has turned His hand Repeatedly all the day.
He bent His bow And set me as a target for the arrow.
He made the arrows of His quiver To enter into my inward parts.
I have become a laughingstock to all my people, Their mocking song all the day.
He has broken my teeth with gravel; He has made me cower in the dust.
So I say, “My strength has perished, And so has my hope from the LORD.”
Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and bitterness.
The LORD’S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail.
“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I have hope in Him.”
The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the person who seeks Him.
It is good that he waits silently For the salvation of the LORD.
It is good for a man that he should bear The yoke in his youth.
Let him put his mouth in the dust, Perhaps there is hope.
Let him give his cheek to the smiter, Let him be filled with reproach.
For the Lord will not reject forever,
For He does not afflict willingly Or grieve the sons of men.
To crush under His feet All the prisoners of the land,
To deprive a man of justice In the presence of the Most High,
To defraud a man in his lawsuit-- Of these things the Lord does not approve.
Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass, Unless the Lord has commanded it?
Is it not from the mouth of the Most High That both good and ill go forth?
Let us examine and probe our ways, And let us return to the LORD.
You have made us mere offscouring and refuse In the midst of the peoples.
My eyes run down with streams of water Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
Until the LORD looks down And sees from heaven.
My eyes bring pain to my soul Because of all the daughters of my city.
They have silenced me in the pit And have placed a stone on me.
I called on Your name, O LORD, Out of the lowest pit.
The lips of my assailants and their whispering Are against me all day long.
You will recompense them, O LORD, According to the work of their hands.
You will pursue them in anger and destroy them From under the heavens of the LORD!
How dark the gold has become, How the pure gold has changed! The sacred stones are poured out At the corner of every street.
The precious sons of Zion, Weighed against fine gold, How they are regarded as earthen jars, The work of a potter’s hands!
Even jackals offer the breast, They nurse their young; But the daughter of my people has become cruel Like ostriches in the wilderness.
The tongue of the infant cleaves To the roof of its mouth because of thirst; The little ones ask for bread, But no one breaks it for them.
Those who ate delicacies Are desolate in the streets; Those reared in purple Embrace ash pits.
New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995
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