LamentationsChapter 2

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¹The Lord has covered the Daughter of Zion
with the cloud of his anger!
He has thrown down the glory of Israel
from heaven to earth.
In the day of his anger
he has left the place where he rests his feet.a ²The Lord has swallowed up all of Jacob's homes.
He showed no pity.
In his anger he has torn down
the strong cities of the Daughter of Judah.
He brought her kingdom and its princes to the ground.
He made them unclean. ³In fierce anger he has cut off
all of Israel's strength.
He pulled back his right hand
when the enemy came near.
He has burned in Jacob like a blazing fire
that burns up everything around it.b ⁴He has bent his bow like an enemy.
His right hand is ready.
Like an enemy he has killed
all who were pleasing to look at.
He has poured out his anger like fire
on the tent of the Daughter of Zion. ⁵The Lord is like an enemy.
He has swallowed up Israel.
He has swallowed up all her palaces.
He has destroyed her forts.
He has made the Daughter of Judah
mourn and cry more and more. ⁶He has torn down his own tent like a shelter in a garden.
He has destroyed the place where people met with him.
The LORD has made Zion forget
her set feasts and Sabbaths.
In his fierce anger he has looked with scorn
on both king and priest. ⁷The Lord has rejected his altar.
He has left his holy place.
He has handed the walls of her palaces
over to the enemy.
They have shouted in the LORD's house
as if it were a feast day. ⁸The LORD made up his mind
to destroy the wall of the Daughter of Zion.
He stretched out a measuring line.
He did not stop his hand from destroying.
He made the towers and walls cry out in sorrow.
Together they waste away. ⁹Her gates have sunk into the ground.
He has smashed and broken their bars.
Her king and her princes are captives among the nations.
The law is gone.
Even her prophets get no vision from the LORD. ¹⁰The leaders of the Daughter of Zion
sit on the ground in silence.
They have thrown dust on their heads.
They have put on sackcloth.
The young women of Jerusalem
have bowed their heads to the ground. ¹¹My eyes are worn out from crying.
I am all stirred up inside.
My heart is poured out in sorrow,
because my people have been destroyed.
Children and babies faint
in the streets of the city. ¹²They cry to their mothers,
"Where is the grain and wine?"
They faint in the city streets
like people who are wounded.
Their lives slip away
in their mothers' arms. ¹³What can I say to you?
What can I compare you to,
Daughter of Jerusalem?
What are you like, so I can comfort you,
Virgin Daughter of Zion?
Your wound is as deep as the sea.
Who can ever heal you? ¹⁴Your prophets saw visions that were empty and false.
They did not show you your guilt.
If they had, you might not have been taken captive.
The messages they gave you
were empty and led you the wrong way. ¹⁵All who pass by clap their hands at you to mock you.
They hiss and shake their heads
at the Daughter of Jerusalem.
"Is this the city people called perfect in beauty?
Is this the joy of the whole earth?" ¹⁶All your enemies open their mouths against you.
They hiss and grind their teeth.
They say, "We have swallowed her up.
This is the day we waited for.
We have lived to see it!" ¹⁷The LORD has done what he planned.
He has carried out what he said.
He ordered it long ago.
He has torn you down without pity.
He has let the enemy laugh at you.
He has made your enemies strong.c ¹⁸The people's hearts cry out to the Lord.
Wall of the Daughter of Zion,
let your tears run down like a river
day and night.
Give yourself no break.
Give your eyes no rest. ¹⁹Get up and cry out in the night,
when the night watches begin.
Pour out your heart like water
before the Lord.
Lift up your hands to him.
Pray for the lives of your children.
They are fainting from hunger
at the corner of every street. ²⁰Look, LORD, and think about it!
Who have you ever treated like this?
Should women eat their own children,
the babies they have cared for?
Should priests and prophets be killed
in the Lord's holy place? ²¹Young and old lie together
in the dust of the streets.
My young men and young women
have been killed by the sword.
You killed them on the day of your anger.
You killed them without pity. ²²You called terrors against me from every side,
as if calling people to a feast day.
On the day of the LORD's anger,
no one escaped or lived.
My enemy has destroyed
the children I cared for and raised.