1[a]How solitary and lonely sits the city [Jerusalem]

That was [once] full of people!

How like a widow she has become.

She who was great among the nations!

The princess among the provinces,

Has become a forced laborer!

2She weeps bitterly in the night

And her tears are [constantly] on her cheeks;

Among all her lovers (political allies)

She has no one to comfort her.

All her friends have dealt treacherously with her;

They have become her enemies.

3Judah has gone into exile under affliction

And under harsh servitude;

She dwells among the [pagan] nations,

But she has found no rest;

All her pursuers have overtaken her

In the midst of [her] distress.

4The roads to Zion are in mourning

Because no one comes to the appointed feasts.

All her gates are desolate;

Her priests are groaning,

Her virgins are grieved and suffering,

And she suffers bitterly.

5Her adversaries have become her masters,

Her enemies prosper;

For the LORD has caused her grief

Because of the multitude of her transgressions;

Her young children have gone

Into captivity before the enemy.

6All her beauty and majesty

Have departed from the Daughter of Zion (Jerusalem).

Her princes have become like deer

That have found no pasture;

They have fled without strength

Before the pursuer.

7In the days of her affliction and homelessness

Jerusalem remembers all her precious things

That she had from the days of old,

When her people fell into the hand of the adversary,

And no one helped her,

The enemy saw her,

They mocked at her downfall.

8Jerusalem sinned greatly;

Therefore she has become an unclean thing [and has been removed].

All who honored her [now] despise her

Because they have seen her nakedness;

Even she herself groans and turns [her face] away.

9Her (ceremonial) uncleanness was on her skirts;

She did not [seriously] consider her future.

Therefore she has come down [from throne to slavery] in an astonishing manner;

She has no comforter.

“O LORD” [cries Jerusalem], “look at my affliction,

For the enemy has magnified himself [in triumph]!”

10The adversary has spread out his hand

Over all her precious and desirable things;

For she has seen the [Gentile] nations enter her sanctuary (the Jerusalem temple)--

[b]The ones whom You commanded

That they should not enter into Your congregation [not even in the outer courts].

11All her people groan, seeking bread;

They have exchanged their desirable and precious things for food

To restore their lives.

“See, O LORD, and consider

How despised and repulsive I have become!”

12“Is it nothing to you, all you who pass this way?

Look and see if there is any pain like my pain

Which was severely dealt out to me,

Which the LORD has inflicted [on me] on the day of His fierce anger.

13“From on high He sent fire into my bones,

And it prevailed over them.

He has spread a net for my feet;

He has turned me back.

He has made me desolate and hopelessly miserable,

Faint all the day long.

14“The yoke of my transgressions is bound;

By His hand they are knit and woven together.

They have come upon my neck.

He has made my strength fail;

The Lord has put me into the hand

Of those against whom I cannot stand.

15“The Lord has rejected all the strong men

In my midst;

He has proclaimed an established time against me

To crush my young men.

The Lord has trampled down as in a wine press

The Virgin Daughter of Judah.

16“I weep for these things;

My eyes overflow with tears,

Because a comforter,

One who could restore my soul, is far away from me.

My children are desolate and perishing,

For the enemy has prevailed.”

17Zion stretches out her hands,

But there is no comforter for her.

The LORD has commanded concerning Jacob

That his neighbors should be his enemies;

Jerusalem has become a filthy thing [an object of contempt] among them.

18“The LORD is righteous and just;

For I have rebelled against His commandment (His word).

Hear now, all you peoples,

And look at my pain;

My virgins and my young men

Have gone into captivity.

19“I [Jerusalem] called to my lovers (political allies), but they deceived me.

My priests and my elders perished in the city

While they looked for food to restore their strength.

20“See, O LORD, how distressed I am!

My spirit is deeply disturbed;

My heart is overturned within me and cannot rest,

For I have been very rebellious.

In the street the sword kills and bereaves;

In the house there is [famine, disease and] death!

21“People have heard that I groan,

That I have no comforter [in You].

All my enemies have heard of my desperation;

They are delighted [O LORD] that You have done it.

Oh, that You would bring the day [of judgment] which You have proclaimed

So that they will become like me.

22“Let all their wickedness come before You;

And deal with them as You have dealt with me

Because of all my transgressions;

For my groans are many and my heart is faint.”