Lamentations 1

Jerusalem in Affliction

1 How lonely sits the city

Thatwas full of people!

*Is. 47:7–9How like a widow is she,

Who was great among the nations!

The *1 Kin. 4:21; Ezra 4:20; Jer. 31:7princess among the provinces

Has become a slave!

2 She *Jer. 13:17weeps bitterly in the *Job 7:3night,

Her tears are on her cheeks;

Among all her lovers

She has none to comfort her.

All her friends have dealt treacherously with her;

They have become her enemies.

3 *Jer. 52:27Judah has gone into captivity,

Under affliction and hard servitude;

*Lam. 2:9She dwells among the nations,

She finds no *Deut. 28:65rest;

All her persecutors overtake her in dire straits.

4 The roads to Zion mourn

Because no one comes to the set feasts.

All her gates are *Is. 27:10desolate;

Her priests sigh,

Her virgins are afflicted,

And she is in bitterness.

5 Her adversaries *Deut. 28:43have become the master,

Her enemies prosper;

For the Lord has afflicted her

*Jer. 30:14, 15; Dan. 9:7, 16Because of the multitude of her transgressions.

Her *Jer. 52:28children have gone into captivity before the enemy.

6 And from the daughter of Zion

All her splendor has departed.

Her princes have become like deer

That find no pasture,

That flee without strength

Before the pursuer.

7 In the days of her affliction and roaming,

Jerusalem *Ps. 137:1remembers all her pleasant things

That she had in the days of old.

When her people fell into the hand of the enemy,

With no one to help her,

The adversaries saw her

And mocked at her downfall.

8 *(1 Kin. 8:46)Jerusalem has sinned gravely,

Therefore she has become vile.

All who honored her despise her

Because *Jer. 13:22; Ezek. 16:37; Hos. 2:10they have seen her nakedness;

Yes, she sighs and turns away.

9 Her uncleanness is in her skirts;

She *Deut. 32:29; Is. 47:7; Jer. 5:31did not consider her destiny;

Therefore her collapse was awesome;

She had no comforter.

"O Lord, behold my affliction,

For the enemy is exalted!"

10 The adversary has spread his hand

Over all her pleasant things;

For she has seen *Ps. 74:4–8; Is. 64:10, 11; Jer. 51:51the nations enter her sanctuary,

Those whom You commanded

*Deut. 23:3; Neh. 13:1Not to enter Your assembly.

11 All her people sigh,

*Jer. 38:9; 52:6They seek bread;

They have given their valuables for food to restore life.

"See, O Lord, and consider,

For I am scorned."

12 "Isit nothing to you, all you who pass by?

Behold and see

*Dan. 9:12If there is any sorrow like my sorrow,

Which has been brought on me,

Which the Lord has inflicted

In the day of His fierce anger.

13 "From above He has sent fire into my bones,

And it overpowered them;

He has *Ezek. 12:13; 17:20spread a net for my feet

And turned me back;

He has made me desolate

And faint all the day.

14 "The*Deut. 28:48 yoke of my transgressions was bound;

They were woven together by His hands,

And thrust upon my neck.

He made my strength fail;

The Lord delivered me into the hands of thosewhom I am not able to withstand.

15 "The Lord has trampled underfoot all my mighty men in my midst;

He has called an assembly against me

To crush my young men;

*Is. 63:3; (Rev. 14:19)The Lord trampled as in a winepress

The virgin daughter of Judah.

16 "For these things I weep;

My eye, *Ps. 69:20; Eccl. 4:1; Jer. 13:17; Lam. 2:18my eye overflows with water;

Because the comforter, who should restore my life,

Is far from me.

My children are desolate

Because the enemy prevailed."

17 *(Is. 1:15); Jer. 4:31Zion spreads out her hands,

But no one comforts her;

The Lord has commanded concerning Jacob

That those *2 Kin. 24:2–4; Jer. 12:9around him become his adversaries;

Jerusalem has become an unclean thing among them.

18 "The Lord is *Neh. 9:33; Ps. 119:75; Dan. 9:7, 14righteous,

For I *1 Sam. 12:14, 15; Jer. 4:17rebelled against His commandment.

Hear now, all peoples,

And behold my sorrow;

My virgins and my young men

Have gone into captivity.

19 "I called for my lovers,

But they deceived me;

My priests and my elders

Breathed their last in the city,

While they sought food

To restore their life.

20 "See, O Lord, that I am in distress;

My *Job 30:27; Is. 16:11; Jer. 4:19; Lam. 2:11; Hos. 11:8soul is troubled;

My heart is overturned within me,

For I have been very rebellious.

*Deut. 32:25; Ezek. 7:15Outside the sword bereaves,

At home itis like death.

21 "They have heard that I sigh,

But no one comforts me.

All my enemies have heard of my trouble;

They are *Ps. 35:15; Jer. 48:27; 50:11; Lam. 2:15; Obad. 12glad that You have done it.

Bring on *Is. 13; (Jer. 46)the day You have announced,

That they may become like me.

22 "Let*Neh. 4:4, 5; Ps. 109:15; 137:7, 8; Jer. 30:16 all their wickedness come before You,

And do to them as You have done to me

For all my transgressions;

For my sighs are many,

And my heart is faint."