The Sorrows of Zion
1 How (A)lonely sits the city
That was (B)full of people!
She has become like a (C)widow
Who was once (D)great among the nations!
She who was a princess among the [a]provinces
Has become a (E)forced laborer!
2 She (F)weeps bitterly in the night
And her tears are on her cheeks;
She has none to comfort her
Among all her (G)lovers.
All her friends have (H)dealt treacherously with her;
They have become her enemies.
3 (I)Judah has gone into exile [b]under affliction
And [c]under [d]harsh servitude;
She dwells (J)among the nations,
But she has found no rest;
All (K)her pursuers have overtaken her
In the midst of [e]distress.
4 The roads [f]of Zion are in mourning
Because (L)no one comes to the appointed feasts.
All her gates are (M)desolate;
Her priests are groaning,
Her (N)virgins are afflicted,
And she herself [g]is (O)bitter.
5 Her adversaries have become [h]her masters,
Her enemies [i]prosper;
For the Lord has (P)caused her grief
Because of the multitude of her transgressions;
Her little ones have gone away
As captives before the adversary.
6 All her (Q)majesty
Has departed from the daughter of Zion;
Her princes have become like deer
That have found no pasture;
And they have [j](R)fled without strength
Before the pursuer.
7 In the days of her affliction and homelessness
(S)Jerusalem remembers all her precious things
That were from the days of old,
When her people fell into the hand of the adversary
And (T)no one helped her.
The adversaries saw her,
They (U)mocked at her [k]ruin.
8 Jerusalem sinned (V)greatly,
Therefore (W)she has become an unclean thing.
All who honored her despise her
Because they have seen her nakedness;
Even (X)she herself groans and turns away.
9 Her (Y)uncleanness was in her skirts;
She [l]did not consider her (Z)future.
Therefore she has [m](AA)fallen astonishingly;
(AB)She has no comforter.
“(AC)See, O Lord, my affliction,
For the enemy has (AD)magnified himself!”
10 The adversary has stretched out his hand
Over all her precious things,
For she has seen the (AE)nations enter her sanctuary,
The ones whom You commanded
That they should (AF)not enter into Your congregation.
11 All her people groan (AG)seeking bread;
They have given their precious things for food
To (AH)restore their [n]lives themselves.
“See, O Lord, and look,
For I am (AI)despised.”
12 “Is (AJ)it nothing to all you who pass this way?
Look and see if there is any [o]pain like my [p]pain
Which was severely dealt out to me,
Which the (AK)Lord inflicted on the day of His (AL)fierce anger.
13 “From on high He sent fire into my (AM)bones,
And it [q]prevailed over them.
He has spread a (AN)net for my feet;
He has turned me back;
He has made me (AO)desolate,
[r]Faint all day long.
14 “The (AP)yoke of my transgressions is bound;
By His hand they are knit together.
They have (AQ)come upon my neck;
He has made my strength [s]fail.
The Lord (AR)has given me into the hands
Of those against whom I am not able to stand.
15 “The (AS)Lord has rejected all my strong men
In my midst;
He has called an appointed [t]time against me
To crush my (AT)young men;
The Lord has (AU)trodden as in a wine press
The virgin daughter of Judah.
16 “For these things I (AV)weep;
[u]My eyes run down with water;
Because far from me is a (AW)comforter,
One who restores my soul.
My children are desolate
Because the enemy has prevailed.”
17 Zion (AX)stretches out her hands;
There is no one to comfort her;
The Lord has (AY)commanded concerning Jacob
That the ones round about him should be his adversaries;
(AZ)Jerusalem has become an unclean thing among them.
18 “The Lord is (BA)righteous;
For I have (BB)rebelled against His [v]command;
Hear now, all peoples,
And (BC)behold my [w]pain;
(BD)My virgins and my young men
Have gone into captivity.
19 “I (BE)called to my lovers, but they deceived me;
My (BF)priests and my elders perished in the city
While they sought food to (BG)restore [x]their strength themselves.
20 “See, O Lord, for I am in distress;
My [y](BH)spirit is greatly troubled;
My heart is overturned within me,
For I have been very (BI)rebellious.
In the street the sword [z]slays;
In the house it is like death.
21 “They have heard that I (BJ)groan;
There is no one to comfort me;
All my enemies have heard of my [aa]calamity;
They are (BK)glad that You have done it.
Oh, that You would bring the day which You have proclaimed,
That they may become (BL)like me.
22 “Let all their wickedness come before You;
And (BM)deal with them as You have dealt with me
For all my transgressions;
For my groans are many and my heart is faint.”
Footnotes
- Lamentations 1:1 Or districts
- Lamentations 1:3 Or by reason of
- Lamentations 1:3 Or by reason of
- Lamentations 1:3 Lit great
- Lamentations 1:3 Or narrow places
- Lamentations 1:4 Or to
- Lamentations 1:4 Or suffers bitterly
- Lamentations 1:5 Lit head
- Lamentations 1:5 Or are at ease
- Lamentations 1:6 Lit gone
- Lamentations 1:7 Lit cessation
- Lamentations 1:9 Lit did not remember her latter end
- Lamentations 1:9 Lit come down
- Lamentations 1:11 Lit soul
- Lamentations 1:12 Or sorrow
- Lamentations 1:12 Or sorrow
- Lamentations 1:13 Or descended, overthrew
- Lamentations 1:13 Or Sick
- Lamentations 1:14 Lit stumble
- Lamentations 1:15 Or feast
- Lamentations 1:16 Lit My eye, my eye
- Lamentations 1:18 Lit mouth
- Lamentations 1:18 Or sorrow
- Lamentations 1:19 Lit their soul
- Lamentations 1:20 Lit inward parts are in ferment
- Lamentations 1:20 Lit bereaves
- Lamentations 1:21 Lit evil
Cross references
- Lamentations 1:1 : Is 3:26
- Lamentations 1:1 : Is 22:2
- Lamentations 1:1 : Is 54:4
- Lamentations 1:1 : 1 Kin 4:21; Ezra 4:20; Jer 31:7
- Lamentations 1:1 : 2 Kin 23:35; Jer 40:9
- Lamentations 1:2 : Ps 6:6; 77:2-6; Lam 1:16
- Lamentations 1:2 : Jer 2:25; 3:1; 22:20-22
- Lamentations 1:2 : Job 19:13, 14; Ps 31:11; Mic 7:5
- Lamentations 1:3 : Jer 13:19
- Lamentations 1:3 : Lev 26:39; Deut 28:64-67
- Lamentations 1:3 : 2 Kin 25:4, 5
- Lamentations 1:4 : Is 24:4-6; Lam 2:6, 7
- Lamentations 1:4 : Jer 9:11; 10:22
- Lamentations 1:4 : Lam 2:10, 21
- Lamentations 1:4 : Joel 1:8-13
- Lamentations 1:5 : Ps 90:7, 8; Ezek 8:17, 18; 9:9, 10
- Lamentations 1:6 : Jer 13:18
- Lamentations 1:6 : 2 Kin 25:4, 5
- Lamentations 1:7 : Ps 42:4; 77:5-9
- Lamentations 1:7 : Jer 37:7; Lam 4:17
- Lamentations 1:7 : Ps 79:4; Jer 48:27
- Lamentations 1:8 : Is 59:2-13; Lam 1:5, 20
- Lamentations 1:8 : Lam 1:17
- Lamentations 1:8 : Lam 1:11, 21, 22
- Lamentations 1:9 : Jer 2:34; Ezek 24:13
- Lamentations 1:9 : Deut 32:29; Is 47:7
- Lamentations 1:9 : Is 3:8; Jer 13:17, 18
- Lamentations 1:9 : Eccl 4:1; Jer 16:7
- Lamentations 1:9 : Ps 25:18; 119:153
- Lamentations 1:9 : Ps 74:23; Zeph 2:10
- Lamentations 1:10 : Ps 74:4-8; Is 64:10, 11; Jer 51:51
- Lamentations 1:10 : Deut 23:3
- Lamentations 1:11 : Jer 38:9; 52:6
- Lamentations 1:11 : 1 Sam 30:12
- Lamentations 1:11 : Jer 15:19
- Lamentations 1:12 : Jer 18:16; 48:27
- Lamentations 1:12 : Jer 30:23, 24
- Lamentations 1:12 : Is 13:13; Jer 4:8
- Lamentations 1:13 : Job 30:30; Ps 22:14; Hab 3:16
- Lamentations 1:13 : Job 19:6; Ps 66:11
- Lamentations 1:13 : Jer 44:6
- Lamentations 1:14 : Prov 5:22; Is 47:6
- Lamentations 1:14 : Jer 28:13, 14
- Lamentations 1:14 : Jer 32:3, 5; Ezek 25:4, 7
- Lamentations 1:15 : Is 41:2; Jer 13:24; 37:10
- Lamentations 1:15 : Jer 6:11; 18:21
- Lamentations 1:15 : Mal 4:3
- Lamentations 1:16 : Jer 14:17; Lam 2:11, 18; 3:48, 49
- Lamentations 1:16 : Ps 69:20; Eccl 4:1; Lam 1:2
- Lamentations 1:17 : Is 1:15; Jer 4:31
- Lamentations 1:17 : 2 Kin 24:2-4; Jer 12:9
- Lamentations 1:17 : Lam 1:8
- Lamentations 1:18 : Ps 119:75; Jer 12:1
- Lamentations 1:18 : 1 Sam 12:14, 15; Jer 4:17
- Lamentations 1:18 : Lam 1:12
- Lamentations 1:18 : Deut 28:32, 41
- Lamentations 1:19 : Job 19:13-19; Lam 1:2
- Lamentations 1:19 : Jer 14:15; Lam 2:20
- Lamentations 1:19 : Lam 1:11
- Lamentations 1:20 : Is 16:11; Lam 2:11
- Lamentations 1:20 : Jer 14:20
- Lamentations 1:21 : Lam 1:4, 8, 22
- Lamentations 1:21 : Ps 35:15; Jer 50:11; Lam 2:15
- Lamentations 1:21 : Is 14:5, 6; 47:6, 11; Jer 30:16
- Lamentations 1:22 : Neh 4:4, 5; Ps 137:7, 8