Lamentations, 1

1. How doth the city sit solitary, [that was] full of people! [how] is she become as a widow! she [that was] great among the nations, [and] princess among the provinces, [how] is she become tributary!

1. How forlorn the city lies, once teeming with people! How like a widow is she, once mistress of the nations! A princess among the cities, she has now become a slave.

2. She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears [are] on her cheeks: among all her lovers she hath none to comfort [her]: all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies.

2. She spends her nights weeping, drenching her cheeks with tears. Who is there to comfort her among all her lovers? All her friends have betrayed her and have become her enemies.

3. Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and because of great servitude: she dwelleth among the heathen, she findeth no rest: all her persecutors overtook her between the straits.

3. Humiliated, exhausted, Judah has gone into exile but she finds no rest among the nations where she sojourns; her pursuers have overtaken her where there is no way of escape.

4. The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn feasts: all her gates are desolate: her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she [is] in bitterness.

4. All roads to Zion are in mourning; no one comes to her feasts. Her gates are deserted, her priests groan, her virgins grieve. What bitter anguish she suffers!

5. Her adversaries are the chief, her enemies prosper; for the LORD hath afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions: her children are gone into captivity before the enemy.

5. She is at the mercy of her foes who enjoy prosperity and power. Yahweh himself has made her suffer for all her iniquity. Her children, driven into captivity, take the lonely road to exile.

6. And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed: her princes are become like harts [that] find no pasture, and they are gone without strength before the pursuer.

6. Gone from the daughter of Zion is all her majestic splendor. Her rulers, like harts that find no pasture, have fled helplessly before the oppressors.

7. Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old, when her people fell into the hand of the enemy, and none did help her: the adversaries saw her, [and] did mock at her sabbaths.

7. Jerusalem recalls her days of wandering and affliction, her people fell into the hands of her foes and there was no help. Haters gloated over her downfall and laughed at her destruction.

8. Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she is removed: all that honoured her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness: yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward.

8. Greatly has Jerusalem sinned; she has become as a thing unclean. Honored before, but now despised by those who have seen her naked, she herself groans in dismay and turns her face away.

9. Her filthiness [is] in her skirts; she remembereth not her last end; therefore she came down wonderfully: she had no comforter. O LORD, behold my affliction: for the enemy hath magnified [himself].

9. Her filth clings to her skirt. She gave no thought to her doom, and so her fall came suddenly, with no one to offer comfort. "Look, O Yahweh, upon my misery, for my enemy has overcome me."

10. The adversary hath spread out his hand upon all her pleasant things: for she hath seen [that] the heathen entered into her sanctuary, whom thou didst command [that] they should not enter into thy congregation.

10. She has seen how the enemy has laid hands on her treasures. She has seen how the nations have defiled her sanctuary - those peoples you have not allowed to come into your assembly.

11. All her people sigh, they seek bread; they have given their pleasant things for meat to relieve the soul: see, O LORD, and consider; for I am become vile.

11. All her people groan as they search for bread; just to keep themselves alive, they give their jewels for food. Look, Yahweh, and mark how I have been despised.

12. [Is it] nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the LORD hath afflicted [me] in the day of his fierce anger.

12. All you who pass by, look and see. Is there any calamity like this, inflicted on me by Yahweh on the day of his burning anger.

13. From above hath he sent fire into my bones, and it prevaileth against them: he hath spread a net for my feet, he hath turned me back: he hath made me desolate [and] faint all the day.

13. From above he sent a fire down into my very bones, he ensnared my feet and threw me down, and left me in pain the whole day long.

14. The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand: they are wreathed, [and] come up upon my neck: he hath made my strength to fall, the Lord hath delivered me into [their] hands, [from whom] I am not able to rise up.

14. He bound my sins into a yoke and fastened them together, then set them upon my neck and caused my strength to fail. Yahweh gave me into the hands of those I cannot withstand.

15. The Lord hath trodden under foot all my mighty [men] in the midst of me: he hath called an assembly against me to crush my young men: the Lord hath trodden the virgin, the daughter of Judah, [as] in a winepress.

15. Yahweh has spurned the bravest of my fighters; he has summoned an army to crush my young warriors. Yahweh has trodden in his winepress Judah's virgin daughter.

16. For these [things] I weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water, because the comforter that should relieve my soul is far from me: my children are desolate, because the enemy prevailed.

16. This is what I weep about, what makes my tears well up. No one is near to restore my spirit, no one at hand to console me. My children are desolate, for the enemy has triumphed.

17. Zion spreadeth forth her hands, [and there is] none to comfort her: the LORD hath commanded concerning Jacob, [that] his adversaries [should be] round about him: Jerusalem is as a menstruous woman among them.

17. Zion stretches out her hands, but there is no one to give comfort. Yahweh has decreed for Jacob that his neighbors become his foes. As an unclean thing among them has Jerusalem become.

18. The LORD is righteous; for I have rebelled against his commandment: hear, I pray you, all people, and behold my sorrow: my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity.

18. Yahweh acts justly, for I have defied his order. Listen, all you peoples, and see how I suffer. My young men and maidens have all gone into exile.

19. I called for my lovers, [but] they deceived me: my priests and mine elders gave up the ghost in the city, while they sought their meat to relieve their souls.

19. I cried for help to my lovers, but they betrayed me. My priests and my elders perished in the city they sought anything to eat, but finally they had to die.

20. Behold, O LORD; for I [am] in distress: my bowels are troubled; mine heart is turned within me; for I have grievously rebelled: abroad the sword bereaveth, at home [there is] as death.

20. Look, Yahweh, upon my distress: all within me is in anguish. My heart recoils within me: I know that I have been rebellious. See, outside the sword that kills, and within, death that stalks.

21. They have heard that I sigh: [there is] none to comfort me: all mine enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that thou hast done [it]: thou wilt bring the day [that] thou hast called, and they shall be like unto me.

21. People have heard my moaning but no one comes to comfort me. My foes have known of my suffering, they rejoice at what you have done. Hasten the day you have proclaimed, that they may be even as I am.

22. Let all their wickedness come before thee; and do unto them, as thou hast done unto me for all my transgressions: for my sighs [are] many, and my heart [is] faint.

22. Let their evil come before you, and deal with them as you have dealt with me on account of my sins. Great indeed is my groaning. How sick at heart I am!