Lamentations 2:1-16 ▼

1 How the Lord in his wrath has abhorred daughter Zion, Casting down from heaven to earth the glory of Israel, Not remembering his footstool on the day of his wrath!

2 The Lord has devoured without pity all of Jacob’s dwellings; In his fury he has razed daughter Judah’s defenses, Has brought to the ground in dishonor a kingdom and its princes.

3 In blazing wrath, he cut down entirely the horn of Israel; He withdrew the support of his right hand when the enemy approached; He burned against Jacob like a blazing fire that consumes everything in its path.

4 He bent his bow like an enemy; the arrow in his right hand Like a foe, he killed all those held precious; On the tent of daughter Zion he poured out his wrath like fire.

5 The Lord has become the enemy, he has devoured Israel: Devoured all its strongholds, destroyed its defenses, Multiplied moaning and groaning throughout daughter Judah.

6 He laid waste his booth like a garden, destroyed his shrine; The LORD has blotted out in Zion feast day and sabbath, Has scorned in fierce wrath king and priest.

7 The Lord has rejected his altar, spurned his sanctuary; He has handed over to the enemy the walls of its strongholds. They shout in the house of the LORD as on a feast day.

8 The LORD was bent on destroying the wall of daughter Zion: He stretched out the measuring line; did not hesitate to devour, Brought grief on rampart and wall till both succumbed.

9 Her gates sank into the ground; he smashed her bars to bits. Her king and her princes are among the nations; instruction is wanting, Even her prophets do not obtain any vision from the LORD.

10 The elders of daughter Zion sit silently on the ground; They cast dust on their heads and dress in sackcloth; The young women of Jerusalem bow their heads to the ground.

11 My eyes are spent with tears, my stomach churns; My bile is poured out on the ground at the brokenness of the daughter of my people, As children and infants collapse in the streets of the town.

12 They cry out to their mothers, “Where is bread and wine?” As they faint away like the wounded in the streets of the city, As their life is poured out in their mothers’ arms.

13 To what can I compare you —to what can I liken you— O daughter Jerusalem? What example can I give in order to comfort you, virgin daughter Zion? For your breach is vast as the sea; who could heal you?

14 Your prophets provided you visions of whitewashed illusion; They did not lay bare your guilt, in order to restore your fortunes; They saw for you only oracles of empty deceit.

15 All who pass by on the road, clap their hands at you; They hiss and wag their heads over daughter Jerusalem: “Is this the city they used to call perfect in beauty and joy of all the earth?”

16 They open their mouths against you, all your enemies; They hiss and gnash their teeth, saying, “We have devoured her! How we have waited for this day— we have lived to see it!”