Common English Bible CEB
English Standard Version ESV
1 Oh, no! In anger, my Lord put Daughter Zion under a cloud; he threw Israel's glory from heaven down to earth. On that day of wrath, he didn't consider his own footstool.
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How the Lord in his anger has set the daughter of Zion under a cloud! He has cast down from heaven to earth the splendor of Israel; he has not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger.
2 Showing no compassion, my Lord devoured each of Jacob's meadows; in his wrath he tore down the walled cities of Daughter Judah. The kingdom and its officials, he forced to the ground, shamed.
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The Lord has swallowed up without mercy all the habitations of Jacob; in his wrath he has broken down the strongholds of the daughter of Judah; he has brought down to the ground in dishonor the kingdom and its rulers.
3 In his burning rage, he cut off each of Israel's horns; right in front of the enemy, he withdrew his strong hand; he burned against Jacob like a flaming fire that ate up everything nearby.
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He has cut down in fierce anger all the might of Israel; he has withdrawn from them his right hand in the face of the enemy; he has burned like a flaming fire in Jacob, consuming all around.
4 He bent his bow as an enemy would; his strong hand was poised like an adversary. He killed every precious thing in sight; he poured out his wrath like fire on Daughter Zion's tent.
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He has bent his bow like an enemy, with his right hand set like a foe; and he has killed all who were delightful in our eyes in the tent of the daughter of Zion; he has poured out his fury like fire.
5 My Lord has become like an enemy. He devoured Israel; he devoured all her palaces; he made ruins of her city walls. In Daughter Judah he multiplied mourning along with more mourning!
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The Lord has become like an enemy; he has swallowed up Israel; he has swallowed up all its palaces; he has laid in ruins its strongholds, and he has multiplied in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation.
6 He wrecked his own booth like a garden; he destroyed his place for festivals. The LORD made Zion forget both festival and sabbath; in his fierce rage, he scorned both monarch and priest.
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He has laid waste his booth like a garden, laid in ruins his meeting place; the LORD has made Zion forget festival and Sabbath, and in his fierce indignation has spurned king and priest.
7 My Lord rejected his altar, he abandoned his sanctuary; he handed Zion's palace walls over to enemies. They shouted in the LORD's own house as if it were a festival day.
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The Lord has scorned his altar, disowned his sanctuary; he has delivered into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; they raised a clamor in the house of the LORD as on the day of festival.
8 The LORD planned to destroy Daughter Zion's wall. He stretched out a measuring line, didn't stop himself from devouring. He made barricades and walls wither—together they wasted away.
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The LORD determined to lay in ruins the wall of the daughter of Zion; he stretched out the measuring line; he did not restrain his hand from destroying; he caused rampart and wall to lament; they languished together.
9 Zion's gates sank into the ground; he broke and shattered her bars; her king and her officials are now among the nations. There is no Instruction! Even her prophets couldn't find a vision from the LORD.
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Her gates have sunk into the ground; he has ruined and broken her bars; her king and princes are among the nations; the law is no more, and her prophets find no vision from the LORD.
10 Daughter Zion's elders sit on the ground and mourn. They throw dust on their heads; they put on mourning clothes. Jerusalem's young women bow their heads all the way to the ground.
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The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground in silence; they have thrown dust on their heads and put on sackcloth; the young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground.
11 My eyes are worn out from weeping; my stomach is churning. My insides are poured on the ground because the daughter of my people is shattered, because children and babies are fainting in the city streets.
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My eyes are spent with weeping; my stomach churns; my bile is poured out to the ground because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because infants and babies faint in the streets of the city.
12 They say to their mothers, "Where are grain and wine?" while fainting like the wounded in the city streets, while their lives are draining away at their own mothers' breasts.
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They cry to their mothers, "Where is bread and wine?" as they faint like a wounded man in the streets of the city, as their life is poured out on their mothers' bosom.
13 What can I testify about you, Daughter Jerusalem? To what could I compare you? With what could I equate you? How can I comfort you, young woman Daughter Zion? Your hurt is as vast as the sea. Who can heal you?
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What can I say for you, to what compare you, O daughter of Jerusalem? What can I liken to you, that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For your ruin is vast as the sea; who can heal you?
14 Your prophets gave you worthless and empty visions. They didn't reveal your sin so as to prevent your captivity. Instead, they showed you worthless and incorrect prophecies.
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Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions; they have not exposed your iniquity to restore your fortunes, but have seen for you oracles that are false and misleading.
15 All who pass by on the road clap their hands about you; they whistle, shaking their heads at Daughter Jerusalem: "Could this be the city called Perfect Beauty, the Joy of All the Earth?"
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All who pass along the way clap their hands at you; they hiss and wag their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem: "Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth?"
16 All your enemies open wide their mouths against you; they whistle, grinding their teeth. They say, "We have devoured! This is definitely the day we've been waiting for. We've seen it come to pass."
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All your enemies rail against you; they hiss, they gnash their teeth, they cry: "We have swallowed her! Ah, this is the day we longed for; now we have it; we see it!"
17 The LORD did what he had planned. He accomplished the word that he had commanded long ago. He ripped down, showing no compassion. He made the enemy rejoice over you; he raised up your adversaries' horn.
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The LORD has done what he purposed; he has carried out his word, which he commanded long ago; he has thrown down without pity; he has made the enemy rejoice over you and exalted the might of your foes.
18 Cry out to my Lord from the heart, you wall of Daughter Zion; make your tears run down like a flood all day and night. Don't relax at all; don't rest your eyes a moment.
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Their heart cried to the Lord. O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears stream down like a torrent day and night! Give yourself no rest, your eyes no respite!
19 Get up and cry out at nighttime, at the start of the night shift; pour out your heart before my Lord like water. Lift your hands up to him for the life of your children— the ones who are fainting from hunger on every street corner.
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"Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the night watches! Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord! Lift your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint for hunger at the head of every street."
20 LORD, look and see to whom you have done this! Should women eat their own offspring, their own beautiful babies? Should priest and prophet be killed in my Lord's own sanctuary?
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Look, O LORD, and see! With whom have you dealt thus? Should women eat the fruit of their womb, the children of their tender care? Should priest and prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?
21 Young and old alike lie on the ground in the streets; my young women and young men fall dead by the sword. On the day of your anger, you killed; you slaughtered, showing no compassion.
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In the dust of the streets lie the young and the old; my young women and my young men have fallen by the sword; you have killed them in the day of your anger, slaughtering without pity.
22 You invited—as if to a festival!—terrors from every side. On the day of the LORD's anger, no one escaped, not one survived. The children that I nurtured, that I raised myself, my enemy finished them off.
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You summoned as if to a festival day my terrors on every side, and on the day of the anger of the LORD no one escaped or survived; those whom I held and raised my enemy destroyed.
Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.