1 How the Lord has covered Daughter Zion with the cloud of his anger "! He has hurled down the splendor of Israel from heaven to earth; he has not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger.2 Without pity the Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob; in his wrath he has torn down the strongholds of Daughter Judah. He has brought her kingdom and its princes down to the ground in dishonor.3 In fierce anger he has cut off every horn ""of Israel. He has withdrawn his right hand at the approach of the enemy. He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire that consumes everything around it.4 Like an enemy he has strung his bow; his right hand is ready. Like a foe he has slain all who were pleasing to the eye; he has poured out his wrath like fire on the tent of Daughter Zion.5 The Lord is like an enemy; he has swallowed up Israel. He has swallowed up all her palaces and destroyed her strongholds. He has multiplied mourning and lamentation for Daughter Judah.6 He has laid waste his dwelling like a garden; he has destroyed his place of meeting. The LORD has made Zion forget her appointed festivals and her Sabbaths; in his fierce anger he has spurned both king and priest.7 The Lord has rejected his altar and abandoned his sanctuary. He has given the walls of her palaces into the hands of the enemy; they have raised a shout in the house of the LORD as on the day of an appointed festival.8 The LORD determined to tear down the wall around Daughter Zion. He stretched out a measuring line and did not withhold his hand from destroying. He made ramparts and walls lament; together they wasted away.9 Her gates have sunk into the ground; their bars he has broken and destroyed. Her king and her princes are exiled among the nations, the law is no more, and her prophets no longer find visions from the LORD.10 The elders of Daughter Zion sit on the ground in silence; they have sprinkled dust on their heads and put on sackcloth. The young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground.11 My eyes fail from weeping, I am in torment within; my heart is poured out on the ground because my people are destroyed, because children and infants faint in the streets of the city.12 They say to their mothers, "Where is bread and wine?" as they faint like the wounded in the streets of the city, as their lives ebb away in their mothers' arms.13 What can I say for you? With what can I compare you, Daughter Jerusalem? To what can I liken you, that I may comfort you, Virgin Daughter Zion? Your wound is as deep as the sea. Who can heal you?14 The visions of your prophets were false and worthless; they did not expose your sin to ward off your captivity. The prophecies they gave you were false and misleading.15 All who pass your way clap their hands at you; they scoff and shake their heads at Daughter Jerusalem: "Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth?"16 All your enemies open their mouths wide against you; they scoff and gnash their teeth and say, "We have swallowed her up. This is the day we have waited for; we have lived to see it."17 The LORD has done what he planned; he has fulfilled his word, which he decreed long ago. He has overthrown you without pity, he has let the enemy gloat over you, he has exalted the horn "of your foes.18 The hearts of the people cry out to the Lord. You walls of Daughter Zion, let your tears flow like a river day and night; give yourself no relief, your eyes no rest.19 Arise, cry out in the night, as the watches of the night begin; pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord. Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint from hunger at every street corner.20 "Look, LORD, and consider: Whom have you ever treated like this? Should women eat their offspring, the children they have cared for? Should priest and prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?21 "Young and old lie together in the dust of the streets; my young men and young women have fallen by the sword. You have slain them in the day of your anger; you have slaughtered them without pity.22 "As you summon to a feast day, so you summoned against me terrors on every side. In the day of the LORD's anger no one escaped or survived; those I cared for and reared my enemy has destroyed."

1 Hvor Herren i sin vrede har innhyllet Sions datter i mørke skyer! Han har kastet Israels herlighet fra himmelen til jorden, og han har ikke kommet i hu sine føtters skammel* på sin vredes dag. / {* 1KR 28, 2. SLM 132, 7.}2 Herren har uten skånsel tilintetgjort alle Jakobs boliger, han har i sin vrede brutt ned Judas datters festninger, kastet dem til jorden; han har vanhelliget riket og dets fyrster.3 Han har i brennende vrede avhugget hvert horn i Israel, dradd sin høire hånd tilbake for fiendens åsyn* og satt Jakob i brand lik en ildslue som fortærer rundt omkring. / {* d.e. latt fienden uhindret trenge frem.}4 Han har spent sin bue som en fiende, stilt sig med sin høire hånd som en motstander og drept alt som var en lyst for vårt øie; i Sions datters telt har han utøst sin vrede som ild.5 Herren er blitt som en fiende, han har tilintetgjort Israel, tilintetgjort alle dets palasser, ødelagt dets festninger og hopet sorg på sorg over Judas datter.6 Han har med vold revet ned sitt gjerde som gjerdet om en have, han har ødelagt sitt forsamlingssted; Herren har latt høitid og sabbat bli glemt i Sion, og i sin vrede og harme forskutt konge og prest.7 Herren har forkastet sitt alter, forsmådd sin helligdom; han har overgitt dets* palassers murer i fiendens vold; de** lot sin røst høre i Herrens hus som på en høitidsdag. / {* Jerusalems.} / {** fiendene. SLM 74, 4.}8 Herren tenkte på å ødelegge Sions datters mur, han strakte ut målesnoren, han drog ikke sin hånd tilbake fra herjing, og han lot voller og murer sørge; forfalne ligger de der alle.9 Dets porter er sunket i jorden, han har ødelagt og sprengt dets bommer; dets konge og dets høvdinger bor blandt hedningene, så der ikke er nogen lov; heller ikke har dets profeter fått noget syn fra Herren.10 Sions datters eldste sitter tause på jorden; de har strødd støv på sitt hode, omgjordet sig med sekk; Jerusalems jomfruer har senket sitt hode til jorden.11 Mine øine er borttæret av tårer, det gjærer i mitt indre, min lever er utøst til jorden, fordi mitt folks datter er ødelagt, fordi de små barn og de diende vansmektet på byens gater;12 de ropte til sine mødre: Hvor er korn og vin? - da de vansmektet på byens gater lik sårede, da de opgav ånden ved sine mødres barm.13 Hvad skal jeg vidne for dig, hvad skal jeg ligne dig med, du Jerusalems datter? Hvad skal jeg stille ved siden av dig, så jeg kunde trøste dig, du jomfru, Sions datter? For stor som havet er din skade; hvem kan læge dig?14 Dine profeter har skuet for dig tomme og dårlige ting; de åpenbarte ikke din misgjerning for å avvende ditt fangenskap, men de forkynte dig tomme og villedende spådommer.15 De slår hendene sammen over dig alle de som går forbi på veien; de spotter og ryster på hodet over Jerusalems datter: Er dette den stad de kalte skjønnhetens krone, all jordens glede?16 Alle dine fiender spiler op sin munn mot dig, de spotter og skjærer tenner, de sier: Vi har ødelagt den; ja, dette er den dag vi har ventet på; vi har oplevd den, vi har sett den.17 Herren har gjort det han hadde tenkt, han har fullbyrdet sitt ord som han hadde forkynt alt i fordums dager, han har brutt ned uten skånsel; og han lot fienden glede sig over dig, han lot dine motstandere bære sine horn høit.18 Deres hjerte roper til Herren. - Du Sions datters mur! La tårer rinne som bekker dag og natt, unn dig ikke nogen hvile, la ikke ditt øie ha ro!19 Stå op, rop høit om natten, når nattevaktene begynner! Utøs ditt hjerte som vann for Herrens åsyn! Løft dine hender til ham for dine barns liv, de som vansmekter av hunger på alle gatehjørner!20 Se, Herre, se! Hvem har du gjort således med? Skal kvinner ete sin livsfrukt, de spede barn som bæres på armen? Skal prest og profet slås ihjel i Herrens helligdom?21 Ung og gammel ligger på jorden i gatene, mine jomfruer og mine unge menn er falt for sverdet; du slo ihjel på din vredes dag, du slaktet uten skånsel.22 Som på en høitidsdag kalte du redsler over mig fra alle kanter, og det var ikke på Herrens vredes dag nogen som slapp unda eller blev reddet; dem som jeg hadde båret på armen og opfostret, dem ødela min fiende.