Lamentations 2

1 The Lord has covered the daughter of Zion under the cloud of his anger. He has thrown the splendor of Israel down from heaven to earth. He has not remembered his footstool on the day of his anger.

How has the LORD covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and remembered not his footstool in the day of his anger!

2 The Lord has swallowed up and has had no compassion on all the towns of Jacob. In the days of his anger he has thrown down the fortified cities of the daughter of Judah; in dishonor he has brought down to the ground the kingdom and its rulers.

The LORD has swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and has not pitied: he has thrown down in his wrath the strong holds of the daughter of Judah; he has brought them down to the ground: he has polluted the kingdom and the princes thereof.

3 With fierce anger he has cut off every horn of Israel. He has withdrawn his right hand from before the enemy. He has burned up Jacob like a blazing fire that devours everything around it.

He has cut off in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel: he has drawn back his right hand from before the enemy, and he burned against Jacob like a flaming fire, which devours round about.

4 Like an enemy he has bent his bow toward us, with his right is ready to shoot. He has slaughtered all who had been so pleasing to him in the tent of the daughter of Zion; he has poured out his wrath like fire.

He has bent his bow like an enemy: he stood with his right hand as an adversary, and slew all that were pleasant to the eye in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion: he poured out his fury like fire.

5 The Lord has become like an enemy. He has swallowed up Israel. He has swallowed up all her palaces. He has destroyed her strongholds. He has increased mourning and lamentation within the daughter of Judah.

The LORD was as an enemy: he has swallowed up Israel, he has swallowed up all her palaces: he has destroyed his strong holds, and has increased in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation.

6 He has attacked his tabernacle like a garden hut. He has destroyed the place of the solemn assembly. Yahweh has caused both solemn assembly and Sabbath to be forgotten in Zion, for he has despised both king and priest in the indignation of his anger.

And he has violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were of a garden: he has destroyed his places of the assembly: the LORD has caused the solemn feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion, and has despised in the indignation of his anger the king and the priest.

7 The Lord has rejected his altar and disowned his sanctuary. He has given over the walls of her palaces into the hand of the enemy. They have raised a shout in the house of Yahweh, as on the day of an appointed feast.

The LORD has cast off his altar, he has abhorred his sanctuary, he has given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; they have made a noise in the house of the LORD, as in the day of a solemn feast.

8 Yahweh decided to destroy the city wall of the daughter of Zion. He has stretched out the measuring line and has not withheld his hand from destroying the wall. He has made the ramparts and wall to lament; together they wasted away.

The LORD has purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion: he has stretched out a line, he has not withdrawn his hand from destroying: therefore he made the rampart and the wall to lament; they languished together.

9 Her gates have sunk into the ground; he has destroyed and broken the bars of her gate. Her king and her princes are among the nations, the law is no more and her prophets find no vision from Yahweh.

Her gates are sunk into the ground; he has destroyed and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no more; her prophets also find no vision from the LORD.

10 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 virgins of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground.

The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground, and keep silence: they have cast up dust upon their heads; they have girded themselves with sackcloth: the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.

11 My eyes have failed from their tears; my stomach churns; my inner parts are poured out to the ground because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, children and infants faint in the streets of the city.

Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, my liver is poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people; because the children and the infants swoon in the streets of the city.

12 They say to their mothers, “Where is grain and wine?” as they faint like a wounded man in the streets of the city, their lives are poured out on the bosom of their mothers.

They say to their mothers, Where is corn and wine? when they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul was poured out into their mothers' bosom.

13 What can I say to you, daughter of Jerusalem? To what can I compare to you, that I may comfort you, virgin daughter of Zion? Your wound is as great as the sea. Who can heal you?

What thing shall I take to witness for you? what thing shall I liken to you, O daughter of Jerusalem? what shall I equal to you, that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? for your breach is great like the sea: who can heal you?

14 Your prophets have seen false and worthless visions for you. They have not exposed your iniquity to restore your fortunes, but for you they gave utterances that are false and misleading.

Your prophets have seen vain and foolish things for you: and they have not discovered your iniquity, to turn away your captivity; but have seen for you false burdens and causes of banishment.

15 All those who pass along the road clap their hands at you. They hiss and shake their heads against the daughter of Jerusalem and say, “Is this the city that they called 'The Perfection of Beauty,' 'The Joy for All of Earth'?”

All that pass by clap their hands at you; they hiss and shake their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men call The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth?

16 All your enemies open their mouths against you. They sneer and grind their teeth in rage and say, “We have swallowed her up! This is the day we have waited for! We have lived to see it!”

all of your enemies have opened their mouth against you: they hiss and gnash the teeth: they say, We have swallowed her up: certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen it.

17 Yahweh has done what he planned to do. He has fulfilled his word. He has overthrown you without pity, for he has permitted the enemy to rejoice over you; he has lifted up the horn of your enemies.

The LORD has done that which he had devised; he has fulfilled his word that he had commanded in the days of old: he has thrown down, and has not pitied: and he has caused your enemy to rejoice over you, he has set up the horn of your adversaries.

18 Their heart cried out to the Lord, walls of the daughter of Zion! Make your tears flow down like a river day and night. Give yourself no relief, your eyes no relief.

Their heart cried unto the LORD, O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night: give yourself no rest; let not the apple of your eye cease.

19 Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the night watches! Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord. Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your children who faint with hunger at the corner of every street.”

Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the watches pour out your heart like water before the face of the LORD: lift up your hands toward him for the life of your young children, that faint for hunger in the top of every street.

20 See, Yahweh, and consider those you have dealt in this way. Should women eat the fruit of their wombs, the children whom they have cared for? Should priest and prophet be slaughtered in the sanctuary of the Lord?

Behold, O LORD, and consider to whom you have done this. Shall the women eat their fruit, and children of a span long? shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?

21 Both the young and the old lie on the dust of the streets. My young women and my young men have fallen by the sword; you have slaughtered them without taking pity on them.

The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets: my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword; you have slain them in the day of your anger; you have killed, and not pitied.

22 You have summoned, as you would call the people to a feast day, my terrors on every side, on the day of the anger of Yahweh no one escaped or survived; those I cared for and raised, my enemy has destroyed.

You have called as in a solemn day my terrors round about, so that in the day of the LORD's anger none escaped nor remained: those that I have swaddled and brought up has mine enemy consumed.