Lamentations 2

1 Yahweh was extremely angry [with us]; as a result, [it was as though] [MET] he covered Jerusalem with a dark cloud. Previously it was a beautiful/glorious city, but he has caused it to become a ruins. At the time he punished [MET] Israel, he [even] abandoned his temple [MET] [in Jerusalem].

How the LORD covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger. He has cast down from heaven to the earth the splendor of Israel, and hasn't remembered his footstool in the day of his anger.

2 Yahweh destroyed the homes of [the people of] [PRS] Judah; he did not act mercifully. Because he was very angry, he broke down the fortresses of Judah. He has caused our kingdom and our rulers to become disgraced, and he has gotten rid of them.

The LORD has swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and has not pitied. He has thrown down in his wrath the strongholds of the daughter of Judah. He has brought them down to the ground; he has humiliated the kingdom and its rulers.

3 Because he was extremely angry, he has caused Israel to not be powerful [MET] any more. He has refused to assist us when our enemies attacked us. He has destroyed Israel like [SIM] a raging fire destroys everything.

He has cut off in fierce anger all the strength of Israel. He has drawn back his right hand before the enemy. He has blazed in Jacob like a flaming fire, which devours all around.

4 He bent his bow [to prepare to shoot us, his people], as though we were his enemies. He [prepared to] kill the people whom we love the most [MET], members of our own families. He is extremely angry [MTY] with us people of Jerusalem; his anger is like [SIM] a fire.

He has bent his bow like an enemy; his right hand he has positioned like an adversary. He killed all that were pleasant to the eye. In the tent of the daughter of Zion he has poured out his wrath like fire.

5 Yahweh has become like an enemy to [us] Israelis; he has destroyed our palaces and caused our fortresses to become ruins. He has gotten rid of many people in Jerusalem, and caused us to mourn and weep [for those who were killed].

The LORD has become as an enemy; he has swallowed up Israel; he has swallowed up all her palaces and has destroyed its strongholds. He has multiplied in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation.

6 He has caused his temple to be smashed [as easily] as [SIM] if it was a shelter in a garden. He has caused [us, his people], to forget all our sacred festivals and Sabbath days. He has caused [our] kings and priests to be rejected because he was extremely angry with them.

He has done violence to his temple, as if it were a vineyard; he has destroyed his place of assembly. The LORD has caused solemn assembly and Sabbath to be forgotten in Zion, and he has spurned in his fierce anger king and priest and prince.

7 Yahweh has rejected his own altar and abandoned his temple. He has allowed [our] enemies to tear down the walls of [our temple and] our palaces. They shout [victoriously] in the temple of Yahweh, like we [previously shouted] during our sacred festivals.

The LORD has rejected his altar, he has disowned his sanctuary, and has given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces. They have made a shout in the house of the LORD, as in the day of a solemn assembly.

8 Yahweh was determined to cause the walls of our city [MTY] to be torn down. [It was as though] he measured the walls and [then he completely] destroyed [MTY] them. [It was as though] he caused the towers and walls to lament/weep, [because they were now ruins].

The LORD has determined to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion. He has stretched out the line, he has not withdrawn his hand from destroying. He has made the rampart and wall to lament; they languish together.

9 The city gates have collapsed; the bars that fastened the gates shut have been smashed. The king and his officials have [been forced to] go to other countries. No longer does anyone teach the people the laws [that God gave to Moses]. The prophets do not receive any visions [because] Yahweh does not give them any.

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

10 The old men of Jerusalem [MTY] sit on the ground, and they say nothing. They wear rough sackcloth and throw dust on their heads [to show that they are sad]. The young girls of Jerusalem bow down [sorrowfully], their faces touching the ground.

The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground in silence. They have cast up dust on their heads; they have clothed themselves with sackcloth. The virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.

11 My eyes are very tired because of my tears; I am very grieved in my soul. Because [very many of] my people have been killed, I grieve and am exhausted. [Even] children and babies are fainting [and dying] in the streets [because they have no food].

My eyes are worn out from weeping, my stomach is churning. My heart is poured on the earth, because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because the young children and the infants faint in the streets of the city.

12 They cry out to their mothers, “We need [RHQ] something to eat and drink!” They faint like wounded men in the streets of the city. They slowly die in the arms of their mothers.

They tell their mothers, "Where is grain and wine?" When they faint as the wounded in the streets of the city, as their lives fade away in their mothers' bosom.

13 You people of Jerusalem [MTY, DOU], (what can I/there is nothing that I can) say [to help you]. No people have [RHQ] suffered like you are suffering; I do not know what I can do to comfort you. The disaster [MET] that you have experienced is as great as the ocean is deep; there is no one [RHQ] who can restore your [city].

What shall I testify of you? What shall I liken to you, daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I compare to you, that I may comfort you, virgin daughter of Zion? For your ruin is great like the sea. Who can heal you?

14 The prophets among you claimed that they had seen visions [from Yahweh], but what they said was false and worthless. They did not save you from being (exiled/forced to go to other countries), because they did not proclaim that you had sinned. Instead, the messages that they gave you deceived you [because] they were not true.

Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions. They have not uncovered your iniquity, to bring back your captivity, but have seen for you false and misleading oracles.

15 All those who pass by you make fun of [IDM] you; they shake their heads and they hiss/sneer at you. [They say], “Is this that great city of Jerusalem? Is it the city that was the most beautiful city in the world, the city that caused all [the people on] the earth to be joyful?”

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

16 [Now] all our enemies scoff [IDM] at you; they hiss/sneer [at you] and gnash their teeth [to show that they hate you]. They say, “We have destroyed them! This is what we longed/waited for, and now it has happened!”

All your enemies have opened wide 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; long ago he threatened to destroy you, and [now] he has done it. He has destroyed [your city] without acting mercifully [toward you]; he has enabled your enemies to he happy about defeating you; he has enabled your enemies to [continually] become stronger.

The LORD has done that which he purposed, he has fulfilled his word that he commanded in the days of old. He has thrown down, and has not pitied. He has caused the enemy to gloat over you and exalted the horn of your adversaries.

18 I wish/desire that the walls of Jerusalem [APO] would cry out to Yahweh! You people of Jerusalem [MET], Cry day and night! Let your tears flow like rivers. Do not stop grieving; do not stop crying.

Their heart cried to the LORD. O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night. Give yourself no respite; do not let your tears cease.

19 Get up [every] night and cry out; tell Yahweh what you are feeling. Raise your arms to plead to him to act mercifully to prevent our children from dying; they are fainting on the street corners because they have no food to eat.

Arise, cry out in the night, at 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 at the head of every street.

20 Yahweh, look, and think [about it]! Have you ever [RHQ] caused people to suffer like this before? [It is certainly not right that] [RHQ] women are eating the flesh of their own children, the children whom they have always taken care of! [It is not right that] [RHQ] priests and prophets are being killed in your own temple!

Look, LORD, and see to whom you have done like this. Shall the women eat their fruit, the children that are dandled in the hands? Shall the priest and the prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the LORD?

21 [The corpses of] people of all ages lie in the streets; [there are even corpses of] young men and young women who have been killed by [our enemies’] swords. Because you were very angry, you caused them to be killed; you have slaughtered them without pitying them [at all].

The youth and the old man lie on the ground in the streets; my virgins and my young men have fallen by the sword. You have killed them in the day of your anger; you have slaughtered, without pity.

22 You summoned our enemies to attack us from every direction, as though you were calling/inviting them to come to a feast. At that time when [you showed that] you were very angry, no one escaped. Our enemies murdered [our little children, ] ones whom we took care of and reared/brought up.

You have called, as in the day of a solemn assembly, my terrors on every side. There was none that escaped or remained in the day of the LORD's anger. Those that I have borne and brought up has my enemy destroyed.