Lamentations 1

How Lonely Sits the City

1 *[Jer. 7:34] How lonely sits the city

that was full of people!

How like *[Jer. 15:8] a widow has she become,

she who was great among the nations!

She who was *[ch. 5:16;Ezra 4:20;Eccles. 2:8] a princess among the provinces

has become *Isa. 31:8a slave.

2 *Ps. 6:6;Jer. 9:1;13:17She weeps bitterly in the night,

with tears on her cheeks;

*ver. 19;Jer. 22:22;30:14among all her lovers

she has *ver. 9, 16, 17, 21;Eccles. 4:1none to comfort her;

*See Ezek. 23:22-26all her friends have dealt treacherously with her;

they have become her enemies.

3 *Jer. 52:27Judah has gone into exile because of affliction*1:3 Or under affliction

and hard servitude;

*[ch. 2:9;Deut. 28:64,65] she dwells now among the nations,

*Jer. 45:3but finds no resting place;

her pursuers have all overtaken her

in the midst of her distress.*1:3 Or in the narrow passes

4 The roads to Zion mourn,

for none come to *See ch. 2:6the festival;

*Jer. 14:2all her gates are desolate;

her priests *ver. 8, 11, 21, 22groan;

her virgins have been afflicted,*1:4 Septuagint, Old Latin dragged away

and she herself suffers bitterly.

5 *[Deut. 28:13,44;Jer. 13:21] Her foes have become the head;

her *Jer. 12:1enemies prosper,

because *ver. 12;ch. 3:33the Lord has afflicted her

*Jer. 30:14,15;Dan. 9:16for the multitude of her transgressions;

*2 Chr. 36:17,20;See Jer. 52:28-30her children have gone away,

captives before the foe.

6 From the daughter of Zion

all her majesty has departed.

Her princes have become like deer

*[Jer. 14:6]that find no pasture;

they fled without strength

before the pursuer.

7 Jerusalem remembers

in the days of her affliction and wandering

*ver. 10, 11all the precious things

that were hers from *ch. 2:17;Jer. 46:26days of old.

When her people fell into the hand of the foe,

and there was none to help her,

her foes gloated over her;

they *Obad. 12,13;[Ps. 119:51]mocked at her downfall.

8 *[Zech. 13:1] Jerusalem sinned grievously;

therefore she became filthy;

all who honored her despise her,

*[Ezek. 16:37] for they have seen her nakedness;

she herself *ver. 4, 21, 22groans

and turns her face away.

9 Her uncleanness was *[Jer. 13:22] in her skirts;

*[Deut. 32:29;Isa. 47:7] she took no thought of her future;*1:9 Or end

therefore her fall is terrible;

*ver. 2she has no comforter.

"O Lord, behold my affliction,

for the enemy has *Jer. 48:26triumphed!"

10 The enemy has stretched out his hands

over all her *ver. 7precious things;

for she has seen *Ps. 79:1;Jer. 51:51the nations

enter her sanctuary,

those whom you *[Deut. 23:3;Neh. 13:1]forbade

to enter your congregation.

11 All her people *[See ver. 8above] groan

as *ch. 2:12;4:4;[Jer. 38:9;52:6] they search for bread;

they trade their *[See ver. 10above] treasures for *ver. 19food

to revive their strength.

"Look, O Lord, and see,

for I am despised."

12 "Is it nothing to you, all *Job 21:29;Ps. 80:12you who pass by?

*[Dan. 9:12] Look and see

if there is any sorrow like my sorrow,

which was brought upon me,

which *ver. 5the Lord inflicted

on *See Jer. 12:13the day of his fierce anger.

13 "From on high he *Ps. 102:3sent fire;

into my bones*1:13 Septuagint; Hebrew bones and he made it descend;

*Ps. 9:15;Ezek. 12:13;17:20he spread a net for my feet;

he turned me back;

*ch. 3:11;See Jer. 8:18he has left me stunned,

faint all the day long.

14 "My transgressions were bound*1:14 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain into *Deut. 28:48a yoke;

by his hand they were fastened together;

they were set upon my neck;

he caused my strength to fail;

the Lord gave me into the hands

of those whom I cannot withstand.

15 "The Lord rejected

all my mighty men in my midst;

he summoned an assembly against me

to crush my young men;

*[Isa. 63:2,3]the Lord has trodden as in a winepress

the virgin daughter of Judah.

16 "For these things *See Jer. 13:17I weep;

my eyes flow with tears;

for *ver. 2, 21a comforter is far from me,

one to *[ver. 11]revive my spirit;

my children are desolate,

for the enemy has prevailed."

17 *Isa. 1:15;Jer. 4:31Zion stretches out her hands,

but *[See ver. 16above]there is none to comfort her;

the Lord has commanded against Jacob

that his neighbors should be his foes;

Jerusalem has become

a filthy thing among them.

18 *See Jer. 12:1"The Lord is in the right,

*1 Sam. 12:14,15for I have rebelled against his word;

but hear, all you peoples,

and see my suffering;

*[Deut. 28:41]my young women and my young men

have gone into captivity.

19 "I called to *See ver. 2my lovers,

but they deceived me;

my priests and elders

perished in the city,

while *ver. 11they sought food

to revive their strength.

20 "Look, O Lord, for I am in distress;

*ch. 2:11;Job 30:27;Isa. 16:11my stomach churns;

my heart is wrung within me,

because I have been very rebellious.

*Deut. 32:25;Ezek. 7:15;See Jer. 15:2In the street the sword bereaves;

in the house it is like death.

21 "They heard*1:21 Septuagint, Syriac Hear*ver. 4, 8, 11my groaning,

yet *ver. 2, 16, 17there is no one to comfort me.

All my enemies have heard of my trouble;

*[ch. 4:21;Jer. 50:11]they are glad that you have done it.

You have brought*1:21 Syriac Bring the day you announced;

*[ch. 4:21;Jer. 50:11]now let them be as I am.

22 *Ps. 109:14,15"Let all their evildoing come before you,

and deal with them

as *ver. 12;ch. 2:20you have dealt with me

because of all my transgressions;

for *[See ver. 21above] my groans are many,

and *See Jer. 8:18my heart is faint."