1. How the Lord in his wrathhas abhorred daughter Zion,Casting down from heaven to earththe glory of Israel,Not remembering his footstoolon the day of his wrath!
2. The Lord has devoured without pityall of Jacob’s dwellings;In his fury he has razeddaughter Judah’s defenses,Has brought to the ground in dishonora kingdom and its princes.
3. In blazing wrath, he cut down entirelythe horn of Israel;He withdrew the support of his right handwhen the enemy approached;He burned against Jacob like a blazing firethat consumes everything in its path.
4. He bent his bow like an enemy;the arrow in his right handLike a foe, he killedall those held precious;On the tent of daughter Zionhe poured out his wrath like fire.
5. The Lord has become the enemy,he has devoured Israel:Devoured all its strongholds,destroyed its defenses,Multiplied moaning and groaningthroughout daughter Judah.
6. He laid waste his booth like a garden,destroyed his shrine;The Lord has blotted out in Zionfeast day and sabbath,Has scorned in fierce wrathking and priest.
7. The Lord has rejected his altar,spurned his sanctuary;He has handed over to the enemythe walls of its strongholds.They shout in the house of the Lordas on a feast day.
8. The Lord was bent on destroyingthe wall of daughter Zion:He stretched out the measuring line;did not hesitate to devour,Brought grief on rampart and walltill both succumbed.
9. Her gates sank into the ground;he smashed her bars to bits.Her king and her princes are among the nations;instruction is wanting,Even her prophets do not obtainany vision from the Lord.
10. The elders of daughter Zionsit silently on the ground;They cast dust on their headsand dress in sackcloth;The young women of Jerusalembow their heads to the ground.
11. My eyes are spent with tears,my stomach churns;My bile is poured out on the groundat the brokenness of the daughter of my people,As children and infants collapsein the streets of the town.
12. They cry out to their mothers,“Where is bread and wine?”As they faint away like the woundedin the streets of the city,As their life is poured outin their mothers’ arms.
13. To what can I compare you—to what can I liken you—O daughter Jerusalem?What example can I give in order to comfort you,virgin daughter Zion?For your breach is vast as the sea;who could heal you?
14. Your prophets provided you visionsof whitewashed illusion;They did not lay bare your guilt,in order to restore your fortunes;They saw for you only oraclesof empty deceit.
15. All who pass by on the road,clap their hands at you;They hiss and wag their headsover daughter Jerusalem:“Is this the city they used to callperfect in beauty and joy of all the earth?”
16. They open their mouths against you,all your enemies;They hiss and gnash their teeth,saying, “We have devoured her!How we have waited for this day—we have lived to see it!”
17. The Lord has done what he planned.He has fulfilled the threatDecreed from days of old,destroying without pity!He let the enemy gloat over youand exalted the horn of your foes.
18. Cry out to the Lord from your heart,wall of daughter Zion!Let your tears flow like a torrentday and night;Give yourself no rest,no relief for your eyes.
19. Rise up! Wail in the night,at the start of every watch;Pour out your heart like waterbefore the Lord;Lift up your hands to himfor the lives of your children,Who collapse from hungerat the corner of every street.
20. “Look, O Lord, and pay attention:to whom have you been so ruthless?Must women eat their own offspring,the very children they have borne?Are priest and prophet to be slainin the sanctuary of the Lord?
21. They lie on the ground in the streets,young and old alike;Both my young women and young menare cut down by the sword;You killed them on the day of your wrath,slaughtered without pity.
22. You summoned as to a feast dayterrors on every side;On the day of the Lord’s wrath,none survived or escaped.Those I have borne and nurtured,my enemy has utterly destroyed.”