4. He has bent His bow like an enemy; His right hand is positioned like an adversary.He has killed everyone who was loved, pouring out His wrath like fireon the tent of Daughter Zion.
5. The Lord is like an enemy;He has swallowed up Israel.He swallowed up all its palacesand destroyed its fortified cities.He has multiplied mourning and lamentationwithin Daughter Judah.
6. He has done violence to His temple as if it were a garden booth,destroying His place of meeting. The Lord has abolishedappointed festivals and Sabbaths in Zion.He has despised king and priestin His fierce anger.
7. The Lord has rejected His altar,repudiated His sanctuary; He has handed the walls of her palacesover to the enemy.They have raised a shout in the house of the Lordas on the day of an appointed festival.
8. The Lord determined to destroythe wall of Daughter Zion.He stretched out a measuring line and did not restrain Himself from destroying.He made the ramparts and walls grieve;together they waste away.
9. Zion’s gates have fallen to the ground; He has destroyed and shattered the bars on her gates.Her king and her leaders live among the nations,instruction is no more,and even her prophets receiveno vision from the Lord.
10. The elders of Daughter Zionsit on the ground in silence.They have thrown dust on their heads and put on sackcloth.The young women of Jerusalemhave bowed their heads to the ground.
11. My eyes are worn out from weeping; I am churning within.My heart is poured out in grief because of the destruction of my dear people, because children and infants faintin the streets of the city.
12. They cry out to their mothers:Where is the grain and wine? as they faint like the woundedin the streets of the city,as their lives fade awayin the arms of their mothers.
13. What can I say on your behalf?What can I compare you to, Daughter Jerusalem?What can I liken you to,so that I may console you, Virgin Daughter Zion?For your ruin is as vast as the sea.Who can heal you?
14. Your prophets saw visions for youthat were empty and deceptive; they did not reveal your guiltand so restore your fortunes. They saw oracles for youthat were empty and misleading.
15. All who pass byscornfully clap their hands at you.They mock and shake their heads at Daughter Jerusalem:Is this the city that was calledthe perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth?
16. All your enemiesopen their mouths against you. They hiss and gnash their teeth, saying, “We have swallowed her up. This is the day we have waited for!We have lived to see it.”