1. How lonely sits the citythat was full of people!How like a widow has she become,she who was great among the nations!She who was a princess among the provinceshas become a slave.
2. She weeps bitterly in the night,with tears on her cheeks; among all her loversshe has none to comfort her; all her friends have dealt treacherously with her;they have become her enemies.
3. Judah has gone into exile because of afflictionand hard servitude; she dwells now among the nations, but finds no resting place;her pursuers have all overtaken herin the midst of her distress.
4. The roads to Zion mourn,for none come to the festival; all her gates are desolate;her priests groan;her virgins have been afflicted,and she herself suffers bitterly.
5. Her foes have become the head;her enemies prosper,because the Lord has afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions; her children have gone away,captives before the foe.
6. From the daughter of Zionall her majesty has departed.Her princes have become like deer that find no pasture;they fled without strengthbefore the pursuer.
7. Jerusalem remembersin the days of her affliction and wandering all the precious thingsthat were hers from days 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 mocked at her downfall.
8. Jerusalem sinned grievously;therefore she became filthy;all who honored her despise her, for they have seen her nakedness;she herself groansand turns her face away.
9. Her uncleanness was in her skirts; she took no thought of her future;therefore her fall is terrible; she has no comforter.“O Lord, behold my affliction,for the enemy has triumphed!”
10. The enemy has stretched out his handsover all her precious things;for she has seen the nationsenter her sanctuary,those whom you forbadeto enter your congregation.
11. All her people groanas they search for bread;they trade their treasures for foodto revive their strength.“Look, O Lord, and see,for I am despised.”
12. “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and seeif there is any sorrow like my sorrow,which was brought upon me,which the Lord inflictedon the day of his fierce anger.
13. “From on high he sent fire;into my bones he made it descend; he spread a net for my feet;he turned me back; he has left me stunned,faint all the day long.
14. “My transgressions were bound into a 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 handsof those whom I cannot withstand.
15. “The Lord rejectedall my mighty men in my midst;he summoned an assembly against meto crush my young men; the Lord has trodden as in a winepressthe virgin daughter of Judah.
16. “For these things I weep;my eyes flow with tears;for a comforter is far from me,one to revive my spirit;my children are desolate,for the enemy has prevailed.”
17. Zion stretches out her hands,but there is none to comfort her;the Lord has commanded against Jacobthat his neighbors should be his foes;Jerusalem has becomea filthy thing among them.
18. “The Lord is in the right, for I have rebelled against his word;but hear, all you peoples,and see my suffering; my young women and my young menhave gone into captivity.
19. “I called to my lovers,but they deceived me;my priests and eldersperished in the city,while they sought foodto revive their strength.
20. “Look, O Lord, for I am in distress; my stomach churns;my heart is wrung within me,because I have been very rebellious. In the street the sword bereaves;in the house it is like death.
21. “They heard my groaning,yet there is no one to comfort me.All my enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that you have done it.You have brought the day you announced; now let them be as I am.
22. “Let all their evildoing come before you,and deal with themas you have dealt with mebecause of all my transgressions;for my groans are many,and my heart is faint.”