Lamentations 1:1
New International Version
How deserted lies the city, once so full of people! How like a widow is she, who once was great among the nations! She who was queen among the provinces has now become a slave.

New Living Translation
Jerusalem, once so full of people, is now deserted. She who was once great among the nations now sits alone like a widow. Once the queen of all the earth, she is now a slave.

English Standard Version
How lonely sits the city that 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 provinces has become a slave.

Berean Standard Bible
How lonely lies the city, once so full of people! She who was great among the nations has become a widow. The princess of the provinces has become a slave.

King James Bible
How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary!

New King James Version
How lonely sits the city That was full of people! How like a widow is she, Who was great among the nations! The princess among the provinces Has become a slave!

New American Standard Bible
How lonely sits the city That once had many people! She has become like a widow Who was once great among the nations! She who was a princess among the provinces Has become a forced laborer!

NASB 1995
How lonely sits the city That was full of people! She has become like a widow Who was once great among the nations! She who was a princess among the provinces Has become a forced laborer!

NASB 1977
How lonely sits the city That was full of people! She has become like a widow Who was once great among the nations! She who was a princess among the provinces Has become a forced laborer!

Legacy Standard Bible
How lonely sits the city That was great with people! She has become like a widow Who was once great among the nations! She who was a princess among the provinces Has become a forced laborer!

Amplified Bible
How solitary and lonely sits the city [Jerusalem] That was [once] full of people! How like a widow she has become. She who was great among the nations! The princess among the provinces, Has become a forced laborer!

Christian Standard Bible
How she sits alone, the city once crowded with people! She who was great among the nations has become like a widow. The princess among the provinces has been put to forced labor.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
How she sits alone, the city once crowded with people! She who was great among the nations has become like a widow. The princess among the provinces has been put to forced labor.

American Standard Version
How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! She is become as a widow, that was great among the nations! She that was a princess among the provinces is become tributary!

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Aleph Just as the city sat alone, she was great among the nations! She was like a widow; she was great among the nations. The Head of cities was paying taxes!

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And it came to pass, after Israel was taken captive, and Jerusalem made desolate, that Jeremias sat weeping, and lamented with this lamentation over Jerusalem, and saidALEPH. How does the city that was filled with people sit solitary! she is become as a widow: she that was magnified among the nations, and princess among the provinces, has become tributary.

Contemporary English Version
Jerusalem, once so crowded, lies deserted and lonely. This city that was known all over the world is now like a widow. This queen of the nations has been made a slave.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Aleph. How doth the city sit solitary that was full of people! how is the mistress of the Gentiles become as a widow: the princes of provinces made tributary!

English Revised Version
How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary!

GOD'S WORD® Translation
"Look how deserted Jerusalem is! Once the city was crowded with people. Once it was important among the nations. Now it is a widow. Once it was a princess among the provinces. Now it does forced labor.

Good News Translation
How lonely lies Jerusalem, once so full of people! Once honored by the world, she is now like a widow; The noblest of cities has fallen into slavery.

International Standard Version
How lonely she lies, the city that thronged with people! Like a widow she has become, this great one among nations! The princess among provinces has become a vassal.

JPS Tanakh 1917
HOW DOTH the city sit solitary, That was full of people! How is she become as a widow! She that was great among the nations, And princess among the provinces, How is she become tributary!

Literal Standard Version
[ALEPH-BET] How she has sat alone, | The city abounding with people! She has been as a widow, | The mighty among nations! Princes among provinces, | She has become tributary!

Majority Standard Bible
How lonely lies the city, once so full of people! She who was great among the nations has become a widow. The princess of the provinces has become a slave.

New American Bible
How solitary sits the city, once filled with people. She who was great among the nations is now like a widow. Once a princess among the provinces, now a toiling slave.

NET Bible
Alas! The city once full of people now sits all alone! The prominent lady among the nations has become a widow! The princess who once ruled the provinces has become a forced laborer!

New Revised Standard Version
How lonely sits the city that once was full of people! How like a widow she has become, she that was great among the nations! She that was a princess among the provinces has become a vassal.

New Heart English Bible
How the city sits solitary, that was full of people. She has become as a widow, who was great among the nations. She who was a princess among the provinces has become a forced laborer.

Webster's Bible Translation
How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary.

World English Bible
How the city sits solitary, that was full of people! She has become as a widow, who was great among the nations! She who was a princess among the provinces has become a slave!

Young's Literal Translation
How hath she sat alone, The city abounding with people! She hath been as a widow, The mighty among nations! Princes among provinces, She hath become tributary!

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
How Lonely Lies the City
1How lonely lies the city, once so full of people! She who was great among the nations has become a widow. The princess of the provinces has become a slave. 2She weeps aloud in the night, with tears upon her cheeks. Among all her lovers there is no one to comfort her. All her friends have betrayed her; they have become her enemies.…

Cross References
1 Kings 4:21
And Solomon reigned over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. These kingdoms offered tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.

2 Kings 23:35
So Jehoiakim paid the silver and gold to Pharaoh Neco, but to meet Pharaoh's demand he taxed the land and exacted the silver and the gold from the people, each according to his wealth.

Ezra 4:20
And mighty kings have ruled over Jerusalem and exercised authority over the whole region west of the Euphrates; and tribute, duty, and toll were paid to them.

Isaiah 3:26
And the gates of Zion will lament and mourn; destitute, she will sit on the ground.

Isaiah 22:2
O city of commotion, O town of revelry? Your slain did not die by the sword, nor were they killed in battle.

Isaiah 49:21
Then you will say in your heart, 'Who has begotten these for me? I was bereaved and barren; I was exiled and rejected. So who has reared them? Look, I was left all alone, so where did they come from?'"

Isaiah 54:4
Do not be afraid, for you will not be put to shame; do not be intimidated, for you will not be humiliated. For you will forget the shame of your youth and will remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.


Treasury of Scripture

How does the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary!

how doth.

Lamentations 2:1
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!

Lamentations 4:1
How is the gold become dim! how is the most fine gold changed! the stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of every street.

Isaiah 14:12
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

sit

Lamentations 2:10
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.

Isaiah 3:26
And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground.

Isaiah 47:1
Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate.

full

Psalm 122:4
Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the LORD.

Isaiah 22:2
Thou that art full of stirs, a tumultuous city, a joyous city: thy slain men are not slain with the sword, nor dead in battle.

Zechariah 8:4,5
Thus saith the LORD of hosts; There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age…

as a

Isaiah 47:8,9
Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children: …

Isaiah 54:4
Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more.

Revelation 18:7
How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.

great

1 Kings 4:21
And Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the river unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt: they brought presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life.

2 Chronicles 9:26
And he reigned over all the kings from the river even unto the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt.

Ezra 4:20
There have been mighty kings also over Jerusalem, which have ruled over all countries beyond the river; and toll, tribute, and custom, was paid unto them.

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Abounding Alone Cities City Countries Deserted Forced Full Great Herself Lonely Mighty Nations Once Princes Princess Provinces Queen Sat Seated Sit Sits Slave Solitary Tributary Vassal Widow Work Yoke
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Abounding Alone Cities City Countries Deserted Forced Full Great Herself Lonely Mighty Nations Once Princes Princess Provinces Queen Sat Seated Sit Sits Slave Solitary Tributary Vassal Widow Work Yoke
Lamentations 1
1. The miseries of Jerusalem and of the Jews lamented
12. The attention of beholders demanded to this unprecedented case
18. The justice of God acknowledged, and his mercy supplicated.














I.

(1) How doth the city . . .--The poem of twenty-two verses divides itself into two symmetrical halves, (1) Lamentations 1:1-11, in which the prophet laments over Jerusalem; and (2) Lamentations 1:12-22, more dramatic in its form, in which the daughter of Zion bewails her own miseries. Each verse is divided into three lines, each line beginning, in the Hebrew, with the same letter. The opening picture reminds us of the well-known Jud?a capta, a woman sitting under a palm-tree, on the Roman medals struck after the destruction of Jerusalem.

How is she become.--Better, making one sentence instead of two, She is become a widow that was great among the nations, and so with the clause that follows.

Provinces.--The word, used in Esther 1:1; Esther 1:22, and elsewhere, of the countries subject to Persia and Assyria and so in Ezra 2:1; Nehemiah 7:6, of Judah itself, here indicates the neighbouring countries that had once, as in the reign of Hezekiah, been subject to Judah. "Tributary," as used here, implies, as in Joshua 16:10, personal servitude, rather than the money payment, for which, at a later period, as in Esther 10:1, it was commuted. . . .

Verse 1. - How. The characteristic introductory word of an elegy (comp. Isaiah 1:21; Isaiah 14:4, 12), and adopted by the early Jewish divines as the title of the Book of Lamentations. It is repeated at the opening of ch. 2 and ch. 4. Sit solitary. Jerusalem is poetically personified and distinguished from the persons who accidentally compose her population. She is "solitary," not as having retired into solitude, but as deserted by her inhabitants (same word as in first clause of Isaiah 27:10). How is she become as a widow! etc. Rather, She is become a widow that was great among the nations; a princess among the provinces, she is become a vassal. The alteration greatly conduces to the effect of the verse, which consists of three parallel lines, like almost all the rest of the chapter. We are not to press the phrase, "a widow," as if some. earthly or heavenly husband were alluded to; it is a kind of symbol of desolation and misery (comp. Isaiah 47:8). "The provinces" at once suggests the period of the writer, who must have been a subject of the Babylonian empire. The term is also frequently used of the countries under the Persian rule (e.g. Esther 1:1, 22), and in Ezra 2:1 and Nehemiah 7:6 is used of Judah itself. Here, however, the "provinces," like the "nations," must be the countries formerly subject to David and Solomon (comp. Ecclesiastes 2:8).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
How
אֵיכָ֣ה ׀ (’ê·ḵāh)
Interjection
Strong's 349: How?, how!, where

lonely
בָדָ֗ד (ḇā·ḏāḏ)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 910: Isolation, separation

lies
יָשְׁבָ֣ה (yā·šə·ḇāh)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person feminine singular
Strong's 3427: To sit down, to dwell, to remain, to settle, to marry

the city,
הָעִיר֙ (hā·‘îr)
Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 5892: Excitement

once so full
רַבָּ֣תִי (rab·bā·ṯî)
Adjective - feminine singular construct
Strong's 7227: Much, many, great

of people!
עָ֔ם (‘ām)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 5971: A people, a tribe, troops, attendants, a flock

She who was great
רַּבָּ֣תִי‪‬‪‬ (rab·bā·ṯî)
Adjective - feminine singular construct
Strong's 7227: Much, many, great

among the nations
בַגּוֹיִ֗ם (ḇag·gō·w·yim)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 1471: A foreign nation, a Gentile, a troop of animals, a flight of locusts

has become
הָיְתָ֖ה (hā·yə·ṯāh)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person feminine singular
Strong's 1961: To fall out, come to pass, become, be

like a widow.
כְּאַלְמָנָ֑ה (kə·’al·mā·nāh)
Preposition-k | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 490: A widow, a desolate place

The princess
שָׂרָ֙תִי֙ (śā·rā·ṯî)
Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 8282: A mistress, female noble

of the provinces
בַּמְּדִינ֔וֹת (bam·mə·ḏî·nō·wṯ)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - feminine plural
Strong's 4082: A judgeship, jurisdiction, a district, a region

has become
הָיְתָ֖ה (hā·yə·ṯāh)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person feminine singular
Strong's 1961: To fall out, come to pass, become, be

a slave.
לָמַֽס׃ (lā·mas)
Preposition-l | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 4522: Body of forced laborers, forced service, taskworkers, taskwork, serfdom


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OT Prophets: Lamentations 1:1 How the city sits solitary that was (Lam. La Lm)
Jeremiah 52:34
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