Zion's hope of relief after punishment
sorrow upon sorrow he brought
    to the daughter of Judah.
   6   He stripped his tabernacle as a vine ^note is stripped,
    and made the place of assembly a ruin.
  In Zion the Lord blotted out all memory
    of festal assembly ^note and of sabbath;
  king and priest alike he scorned
    in the grimness of his anger.
   7   The Lord spurned his own altar
    and laid a curse upon his sanctuary.
  He delivered the walls of her mansions
    into the power of the enemy;
  in the Lord's very house they raised shouts of victory
    as on a day of festival.
   8   The Lord was minded to bring down in ruins
    the walls of the daughter of Zion;
    he took their measure with his line
  and did not scruple to demolish her;
  he made rampart and wall lament,
    and both together lay dejected.
   9   Her gates are sunk into the earth,
  he has shattered and broken their bars;
  her king and her rulers are among the Gentiles,
    and there is no law;
  her prophets too have received
    no vision from the Lord.
     10   The elders of the daughter of Zion
  sit on the ground and sigh;
  they have cast dust on their heads
    and clothed themselves in sackcloth;
    the virgins of Jerusalem
  bow their heads to the ground.
   11   My eyes are blinded with tears,
    my bowels writhe in anguish.
  In my bitterness my bile is spilt on the earth
    because of my people's wound,
  when children and infants faint
    in the streets of the town
     12   and cry to their mothers,
  ‘Where can we get corn and wine?’—
  when they faint like wounded things
    in the streets of the city,

Zion's hope of relief after punishment
  gasping out their lives
    in their mothers' bosom.


   13   How can I cheer you? Whose plight is like yours,
    daughter of Jerusalem?
  To what can I compare you for your comfort,
    virgin daughter of Zion?
  For your wound gapes wide as the ocean;
    who can heal you?
   14   The visions that your prophets saw for you
    were false and painted shams;
  they did not bring home to you your guilt
    and so reverse your fortunes.
  The visions that they saw for you were delusions,
    false and fraudulent. ^note
     15   All those who pass by
  snap their fingers at you;
  they hiss and wag their heads at you,
    daughter of Jerusalem:
‘Is this the city once called Perfect in beauty,
    Joy of the whole earth?’
     16   All your enemies
  make mouths and jeer at you;
  they hiss and grind their teeth,
    saying, ‘Here we are,
  this is the day we have waited for;
    we have lived to see it.’


   17   The Lord has done what he planned to do,
    he has fulfilled his threat,
  all that he ordained from days of old.
    He has demolished without pity
  and let the enemy rejoice over you,
  filling your adversaries with pride. ^note
   18   Cry with a full heart ^note to the Lord,
    O wall of the daughter of Zion;
  let your tears run down like a torrent
    by day and by night.
  Give yourself not a moment's rest,
    let your tears never cease.
   19   Arise and cry aloud in the night;
    at the beginning of every watch

Zion's hope of relief after punishment
  pour out your heart like water
    in the Lord's very presence.
  Lift up your hands to him
    for the lives of your children. ^note
   20   Look, Lord, and see:
    who is it that thou hast thus tormented?
  Must women eat the fruit of their wombs,
    the children they have brought safely to birth?
  Shall priest and prophet be slain
    in the sanctuary of the Lord?
   21   There in the streets young men and old
    lie on the ground.
  My virgins and my young men have fallen
    by sword and by famine; ^note
  thou hast slain them in the day of thy anger,
    slaughtered them without pity.
   22   Thou didst summon my enemies against me from every side,
    like men assembling for a festival;
  not a man escaped, not one survived
    in the day of the Lord's anger.
  All whom I brought safely to birth and reared
    were destroyed by my enemies.

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