How Lonely Sits the City
1 1How lonely sits the city that was full of people! How like
2a widow has she become, she who was great among the nations! She who was
3a princess among the provinces has become
4a slave.
2
5She weeps bitterly in the night, with tears on her cheeks;
6among all her lovers she has
7none to comfort her;
8all her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they have become her enemies.
3
9Judah has gone into exile because of affliction and hard servitude;
10she dwells now among the nations,
11but finds no resting place; her pursuers have all overtaken her in the midst of her distress.
4
The roads to Zion mourn, for none come to
12the festival;
13all her gates are desolate; her priests
14groan; her virgins have been afflicted, and she herself suffers bitterly.
5
15Her foes have become the head; her
16enemies prosper, because
17the LORD has afflicted her
18for the multitude of her transgressions;
19her 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
20that find no pasture; they fled without strength before the pursuer.
7
Jerusalem remembers in the days of her affliction and wandering
21all the precious things that were hers from
22days 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
23mocked at her downfall.
8
24Jerusalem sinned grievously; therefore she became filthy; all who honored her despise her,
25for they have seen her nakedness; she herself
26groans and turns her face away.
9
Her uncleanness was
27in her skirts;
28she took no thought of her future; therefore her fall is terrible;
29she has no comforter. "O LORD, behold my affliction, for the enemy has
30triumphed!"
10
The enemy has stretched out his hands over all her
31precious things; for she has seen
32the nations enter her sanctuary, those whom you
33forbade to enter your congregation.
11
All her people
34groan as
35they search for bread; they trade their
36treasures for
37food to revive their strength. "Look, O LORD, and see, for I am despised."
12
"Is it nothing to you, all
38you who pass by?
39Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which was brought upon me, which
40the LORD inflicted on
41the day of his fierce anger.
13
"From on high he
42sent fire; into my bones he made it descend;
43he spread a net for my feet; he turned me back;
44he has left me stunned, faint all the day long.
14
"My transgressions were bound into
45a 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;
46the Lord has trodden as in a winepress the virgin daughter of Judah.
16
"For these things
47I weep; my eyes flow with tears; for
48a comforter is far from me, one to
49revive my spirit; my children are desolate, for the enemy has prevailed."
17
50Zion stretches out her hands, but
51there 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
52"The LORD is in the right,
53for I have rebelled against his word; but hear, all you peoples, and see my suffering;
54my young women and my young men have gone into captivity.
19
"I called to
55my lovers, but they deceived me; my priests and elders perished in the city, while
56they sought food to revive their strength.
20
"Look, O LORD, for I am in distress;
57my stomach churns; my heart is wrung within me, because I have been very rebellious.
58In the street the sword bereaves; in the house it is like death.
21
"They heard
59my groaning, yet
60there is no one to comfort me. All my enemies have heard of my trouble;
61they are glad that you have done it. You have brought the day you announced;
62now let them be as I am.
22
63"Let all their evildoing come before you, and deal with them as
64you have dealt with me because of all my transgressions; for
65my groans are many, and
66my heart is faint."