Lamentations 2:11-22 ▼

11 My eyes fail because of tears; My inmost being is greatly disturbed; My heart is poured out on the earth Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, When infants and nursing babies faint In the open squares of the city.

12 They say to their mothers, “Where is grain and wine?” As they faint like a wounded man In the open squares of the city, As their life is poured out On their mothers’ bosom.

13 What shall I testify about you? To what shall I equate you, O daughter of Jerusalem? To what shall I liken you as I comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For your destruction is as vast as the sea; Who can heal you?

14 Your prophets have beheld for you Worthless and ineffective visions; And they have not uncovered your iniquity So as to return you from captivity, But they have beheld for you worthless and misleading oracles.

15 All who pass along the way Clap their hands in derision at you; They hiss and shake their heads At the daughter of Jerusalem, “Is this the city of which they said, ‘The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth’?”

16 All your enemies Have opened their mouths wide against you; They hiss and gnash their teeth. They say, “We have swallowed her up! Surely this is the day for which we have hoped; We have found it, we have seen it.”

17 Yahweh has done what He purposed; He has completed His word Which He commanded from days of old. He has pulled down without sparing, And He has caused the enemy to be glad over you; He has exalted the might of your adversaries.

18 Their heart cried out to the Lord, “O wall of the daughter of Zion, Let your tears run down like a river day and night; Give yourself no relief; Let your eyes not be still.

19 Arise, cry aloud in the night At the head of the night watches; Pour out your heart like water Before the presence of the Lord; Lift up your hands to Him For the life of your infants Who are faint because of hunger At the head of every street.”

20 See, O Yahweh, and look! With whom have You dealt thus? Should women eat their offspring, The infants who were born healthy? Should priest and prophet be killed In the sanctuary of the Lord?

21 On the ground in the streets Lie young and old; My virgins and my young men Have fallen by the sword. You have killed them in the day of Your anger; You have slaughtered, not sparing.

22 You called as in the day of an appointed time My terrors on every side; And there was no one who escaped or survived In the day of Yahweh’s anger. Those whom I gave birth to and reared, My enemy consumed them.