The Sorrows of Jerusalem
Once honored by the world, she is now like a widow;
The noblest of cities has fallen into slavery.
Of all her former friends, not one is left to comfort her.
Her allies have betrayed her and are all against her now.
They live in other lands, with no place to call their own—
Surrounded by enemies, with no way to escape.
The young women who sang there suffer, and the priests can only groan.
The city gates stand empty, and Zion is in agony.
The Lord has made her suffer for all her many sins;
Her children have been captured and taken away.
Her leaders are like deer that are weak from hunger,
Whose strength is almost gone as they flee from the hunters.
When she fell to the enemy, there was no one to help her;
Her conquerors laughed at her downfall.
She groans and hides her face in shame.
Jerusalem made herself filthy with terrible sin.
Her downfall was terrible; no one can comfort her.
Her enemies have won, and she cries to the Lord for mercy.
She saw them enter the Temple itself,
Where the Lord had forbidden Gentiles to go.
They exchange their treasures for food to keep themselves alive.
“Look at me, Lord,” the city cries; “see me in my misery.”
“No one has ever had pain like mine,
Pain that the Lord brought on me in the time of his anger.
He set a trap for me and brought me to the ground.
Then he abandoned me and left me in constant pain.
He hung them around my neck, and I grew weak beneath the weight.
The Lord gave me to my foes, and I was helpless against them.
He sent an army to destroy my young men.
He crushed my people like grapes in a wine press.
No one can comfort me; no one can give me courage.
The enemy has conquered me; my people have nothing left.
The Lord has called enemies against me from every side;
They treat me like some filthy thing.
Listen to me, people everywhere; look at me in my pain.
My young men and women have been taken away captive.
The priests and the leaders died in the city streets,
Looking for food to keep themselves alive.
My heart is broken in sorrow for my sins.
There is murder in the streets; even indoors there is death.
My enemies are glad that you brought disaster on me.
Bring[d] the day you promised; make my enemies suffer as I do.
Punish them as you punished me for my sins.
I groan in misery, and I am sick at heart.”
Footnotes
- Lamentations 1:3 are helpless … home; or fled from home, from the misery of slavery.
- Lamentations 1:12 Look … by; or May this not happen to you that pass by; or Does this mean nothing to you that pass by?
- Lamentations 1:21 One ancient translation Listen; Hebrew They listened.
- Lamentations 1:21 One ancient translation Bring; Hebrew You brought.