LamentationsChapter 1

Tap any verse to comment or suggest a better wording.

¹How lonely the city sits,
once so full of people!
She was great among the nations.
Now she has become like a widow.
She was a princess among the lands.
Now she has become a slave. ²She cries hard in the night.
Tears are on her cheeks.
Of all her lovers, no one comforts her.
All her friends have turned on her.
They have become her enemies. ³Judah has been taken away as a captive.
She suffers under hard slavery.
She lives among the nations,
but she finds no place to rest.
All who chased her have caught her
in the middle of her trouble. ⁴The roads to Zion are sad,
because no one comes to her set feasts.
All her gates are empty.
Her priests groan.
Her young women are full of sorrow.
And she herself is bitter with pain. ⁵Her enemies have become her masters.
They are doing well.
The LORD has made her suffer
because of her many sins.
Her children have been taken away.
The enemy drove them out as captives. ⁶All the beauty has left the Daughter of Zion.
Her princes are like deer that find no pasture.
They are too weak to run
from the hunter. ⁷Jerusalem is suffering and wandering.
In these days she remembers all the treasures
that were hers long ago.
When her people fell into enemy hands,
no one helped her.
Her enemies looked at her.
They laughed at her fall. ⁸Jerusalem has sinned greatly.
So she has become something people scorn.
All who honored her now hate her,
because they have seen her naked.
She herself groans and turns away. ⁹Her uncleanness stains her skirts.
She did not think about where her life was going.
Her fall was shocking.
No one was there to comfort her.
Look, LORD, at how I suffer!
The enemy has won! ¹⁰The enemy has taken all her treasures.
She has seen the nations go into her holy place.
You had told them not to come into your assembly. ¹¹All her people groan as they look for bread.
They have traded their treasures for food
to stay alive.
Look, LORD, and see!
People look down on me. ¹²Does this mean nothing to you,
all you who pass by?
Look around and see!
Is there any sorrow like mine?
The LORD made me suffer this
on the day of his fierce anger. ¹³He sent fire from above.
It took over my bones.
He spread a net for my feet.
He turned me back.
He left me ruined
and weak all day long. ¹⁴My sins have been tied into a yoke.
His hand has woven them together.
They hang on my neck.
The Lord has taken away my strength.
He has handed me over to people
I cannot stand against. ¹⁵The Lord has thrown aside all the strong men among me.
He has called an army against me
to crush my young soldiers.
The Lord has stomped on the Virgin Daughter of Judah
like grapes in a winepress. ¹⁶That is why I weep.
Tears flow from my eyes.
For no one is near to comfort me.
No one is here to give me new life.
My children have nothing left,
because the enemy has won. ¹⁷Zion reaches out her hands,
but no one comforts her.
The LORD has ordered
that Jacob's neighbors become his enemies.
Jerusalem has become an unclean thing among them. ¹⁸The LORD is righteous.
But I turned against his command.
Listen, all you people.
Look at how I suffer.
My young men and young women
have been taken away as captives. ¹⁹I called out to my lovers,
but they turned on me.
My priests and leaders died in the city.
They died while looking for food
to stay alive. ²⁰Look, LORD, at how upset I am!
I am all stirred up inside.
My heart is pounding in me,
because I have turned against you so much.
Outside, the sword kills my children.
Inside, there is death. ²¹People have heard me groan.
But no one comforts me.
All my enemies have heard about my trouble.
They are glad you have done it.
Bring the day you promised,
so they will become like me. ²²Let all their evil come before you.
Deal with them as you have dealt with me
because of all my sins.
For I groan so much,
and my heart is weak.