Lamentations 2:1-22

Look how the Lord in his anger has brought Jerusalem to shame. He has thrown down the greatness of Israel from the sky to the earth; he did not remember the Temple, his footstool, on the day of his anger. The Lord swallowed up without mercy all the houses of the people of Jacob; in his anger he pulled down the strong places of Judah. He threw her kingdom and its rulers down to the ground in dishonor. In his anger he has removed all the strength of Israel; he took away his power from Israel when the enemy came. He burned against the people of Jacob like a flaming fire that burns up everything around it. Like an enemy, he prepared to shoot his bow, and his hand was against us. Like an enemy, he killed all the good-looking people; he poured out his anger like fire on the tents of Jerusalem. The Lord was like an enemy; he swallowed up Israel. He swallowed up all her palaces and destroyed all her strongholds. He has caused more moaning and groaning for Judah. He cut down his Temple like a garden; he destroyed the meeting place. The LORD has made Jerusalem forget the set feasts and Sabbath days. He has rejected the king and the priest in his great anger. The Lord has rejected his altar and abandoned his Temple. He has handed over to the enemy the walls of Jerusalem’s palaces. Their uproar in the LORD’s Temple was like that of a feast day. The LORD planned to destroy the wall around Jerusalem. He measured the wall and did not stop himself from destroying it. He made the walls and defenses sad; together they have fallen. Jerusalem’s gates have fallen to the ground; he destroyed and smashed the bars of the gates. Her king and her princes are among the nations. The teaching of the LORD has stopped, and the prophets do not have visions from the LORD. The elders of Jerusalem sit on the ground in silence. They throw dust on their heads and put on rough cloth to show their sadness. The young women of Jerusalem bow their heads to the ground in sorrow. My eyes have no more tears, and I am sick to my stomach. I feel empty inside, because my people have been destroyed. Children and babies are fainting in the streets of the city. They ask their mothers, “Where is the grain and wine?” They faint like wounded soldiers in the streets of the city and die in their mothers’ arms. What can I say about you, Jerusalem? What can I compare you to? What can I say you are like? How can I comfort you, Jerusalem? Your ruin is as deep as the sea. No one can heal you. Your prophets saw visions, but they were false and worth nothing. They did not point out your sins to keep you from being captured. They preached what was false and led you wrongly. All who pass by on the road clap their hands at you; they make fun of Jerusalem and shake their heads. They ask, “Is this the city that people called the most beautiful city, the happiest place on earth?” All your enemies open their mouths to speak against you. They make fun and grind their teeth in anger. They say, “We have swallowed you up. This is the day we were waiting for! We have finally seen it happen.” The LORD has done what he planned; he has kept his word that he commanded long ago. He has destroyed without mercy, and he has let your enemies laugh at you. He has strengthened your enemies. The people cry out to the Lord. Wall of Jerusalem, let your tears flow like a river day and night. Do not stop or let your eyes rest. Get up, cry out in the night, even as the night begins. Pour out your heart like water in prayer to the Lord. Lift up your hands in prayer to him for the life of your children who are fainting with hunger on every street corner. Jerusalem says: “Look, LORD, and see to whom you have done this. Women eat their own babies, the children they have cared for. Priests and prophets are killed in the Temple of the Lord. “People young and old lie outside on the ground. My young women and young men have been killed by the sword. You killed them on the day of your anger; you killed them without mercy. “You invited terrors to come against me on every side, as if you were inviting them to a feast. No one escaped or remained alive on the day of the LORD’s anger. My enemy has killed those I cared for and brought up.”