Lamentations 1:1-22

How lonely sits the city once thronged with people! Once great among the nations, she is now lonely like a widow. Once a fair princess ruling among the provinces, now a shackled servant. She is weeping bitterly through the night, with tears streaming down her cheeks. Among all her lovers, not one can be found to comfort her. Her friends have all betrayed her and have now become her enemies. Judah’s people have gone into exile under harsh labor and much pain. They found no place to rest living among foreigners. All their enemies have seized them in the narrow passes. The empty roads to Zion mourn, for no one travels to her sacred feasts anymore. The singing maidens suffer, and the priests can only groan. The city gates stand empty, and Zion can only moan. Her foes have the upper hand while her enemies are now at ease. For YAHWEH has made Jerusalem suffer for her many, many sins. Her young children are taken into captivity as captives before the oppressor. All the splendor has departed from the fair daughter of Zion. Her princes are like deer that find no pasture. Weak and weary they stumble, unable to flee from those who pursue them. In her days of wandering and affliction, Jerusalem still remembers all her precious treasures that were hers from days gone by. When the enemies defeated her people, there was no one to help her. Her conquerors looked on, jeering and cheering at her downfall. Jerusalem has committed a horrible sin and has become an object of scorn. All who once honored her now despise her, for they have seen her nakedness. Shunned, she groans aloud and turns to hide her face in shame. Her filth stains her skirts— she never pictured this outcome. Therefore, her fall is terrible with no one to comfort her. Jerusalem groans, “YAHWEH, look how miserable I am; all the while my enemy gloats!” The enemy has seized all her precious treasures. Before her very eyes she witnessed foreigners enter her holy sanctuary, although you had forbidden them ever to enter your assembly. Everyone is groaning, longing for anything to eat; they have traded their treasures for food in order to keep themselves alive. “Look, YAHWEH, and consider how pathetic I have become! “None who passes by even cares. Turn around and look at me! Is there anyone who suffers as much as I? YAHWEH, in the terrible day of your fierce anger, you punished me worst of all. “From on high, he sent a fire deep in my bones, and it conquered me. He trapped my feet in his snare and hurled me back. He left me stunned in misery that had no end. “YAHWEH took my sins in his hands and tied them into a yoke. Then, he set his yoke upon my neck and caused my strength to fail. The Lord let my enemies defeat me; I am helpless to resist. “The Lord has despised and rejected all the mighty warriors who defended me. He mobilized an army to destroy me and crush my young men. The Lord has trampled like grapes in a winepress the fair daughter of Judah. “This is why I weep bitterly, as tears stream down my cheeks. Truly, no one is here to comfort me or revive my life. My children no longer have a future, for the enemy has triumphed.” Zion stretches out her hands for help, but there is no one to comfort her. At YAHWEH’s command, Jacob’s neighbors became her enemies. They all treated Jerusalem as though she were a bloody rag. “YAHWEH is just to judge, for I have rebelled against his word. Listen, everyone, and see my sorrow; my maidens and young men have gone into captivity. “I called to my lovers, but they cheated on me. My leaders and priests died in the city while scrounging for food just to keep themselves alive. “YAHWEH, can’t you see I’m in deep trouble? My gut is churning and my heart is burning— how rebellious I have been! The sword rules on the street; plague rules within the houses. “They have heard my groans, yet I have no one to comfort me. All my enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad you have done this to me. You threatened me and kept your promise— oh, that the same would happen to them! “Let all their wickedness condemn them. Deal with them as you have dealt with me for all my sins. My groaning seems endless, and I am sick at heart.”