17. The Lord has finally done what he threatened to do:He has destroyed us without mercy, as he warned us long ago.He gave our enemies victory, gave them joy at our downfall.
18. O Jerusalem, let your very walls cry out to the Lord!Let your tears flow like rivers night and day;Wear yourself out with weeping and grief!
19. All through the night get up again and again to cry out to the Lord;Pour out your heart and beg him for mercy on your children —Children starving to death on every street corner!
20. Look, O Lord! Why are you punishing us like this?Women are eating the bodies of the children they loved!Priests and prophets are being killed in the Temple itself!
21. Young and old alike lie dead in the streets,Young men and women, killed by enemy swords.You slaughtered them without mercy on the day of your anger.
22. You invited my enemies to hold a carnival of terror all round me,And no one could escape on that day of your anger.They murdered my children, whom I had reared and loved.