Lamentations 1:1-9 ▼

1 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.

2 She weeps incessantly in the night, her cheeks damp with tears. She has no one to comfort her from all her lovers; Her friends have all betrayed her, and become her enemies.

3 Judah has gone into exile, after oppression and harsh labor; She dwells among the nations, yet finds no rest: All her pursuers overtake her in the narrow straits.

4 The roads to Zion mourn, empty of pilgrims to her feasts. All her gateways are desolate, her priests groan, Her young women grieve; her lot is bitter.

5 Her foes have come out on top, her enemies are secure; Because the LORD has afflicted her for her many rebellions. Her children have gone away, captive before the foe.

6 From daughter Zion has gone all her glory: Her princes have become like rams that find no pasture. They have gone off exhausted before their pursuers.

7 Jerusalem remembers in days of wretched homelessness, All the precious things she once had in days gone by. But when her people fell into the hands of the foe, and she had no help, Her foes looked on and laughed at her collapse.

8 Jerusalem has sinned grievously, therefore she has become a mockery; Those who honored her now demean her, for they saw her nakedness; She herself groans out loud, and turns away.

9 Her uncleanness is on her skirt; she has no thought of her future. Her downfall is astonishing, with no one to comfort her. “Look, O LORD, at my misery; how the enemy triumphs!”