The Lord's Punishment of Jerusalem
1 The Lord in his anger has covered Zion with darkness.
Its heavenly splendor he has turned into ruins.
On the day of his anger he abandoned even his Temple.
2 The Lord destroyed without mercy every village in Judah
And tore down the forts that defended the land.
He brought disgrace on the kingdom and its rulers.
3 In his fury he shattered the strength of Israel;
He refused to help us when the enemy came.
He raged against us like fire, destroying everything.
4 He aimed his arrows at us like an enemy;
He killed all those who were our joy and delight.
Here in Jerusalem we felt his burning anger.
5 Like an enemy, the Lord has destroyed Israel;
He has left her forts and palaces in ruins.
He has brought on the people of Judah unending sorrow.
6 He smashed to pieces the Temple where we worshiped him;
He has put an end to holy days and Sabbaths.
King and priest alike have felt the force of his anger.
7 The Lord rejected his altar and deserted his holy Temple;
He allowed the enemy to tear down its walls.
They shouted in victory where once we had worshiped in joy.
8 The Lord was determined that the walls of Zion should fall;
He measured them off to make sure of total destruction.
The towers and walls now lie in ruins together.
9 The gates lie buried in rubble, their bars smashed to pieces.
The king and the noblemen now are in exile.
The Law is no longer taught, and the prophets have no visions from the Lord.
10 Jerusalem's old men sit on the ground in silence,
With dust on their heads and sackcloth on their bodies.
Young women bow their heads to the ground.
11 My eyes are worn out with weeping; my soul is in anguish.
I am exhausted with grief at the destruction of my people.
Children and babies are fainting in the streets of the city.
12 Hungry and thirsty, they cry to their mothers;
They fall in the streets as though they were wounded,
And slowly die in their mothers' arms.
13 O Jerusalem, beloved Jerusalem, what can I say?
How can I comfort you? No one has ever suffered like this.
Your disaster is boundless as the ocean; there is no possible hope.
14 Your prophets had nothing to tell you but lies;
Their preaching deceived you by never exposing your sin.
They made you think you did not need to repent.
15 People passing by the city look at you in scorn.
They shake their heads and laugh at Jerusalem's ruins:
“Is this that lovely city? Is this the pride of the world?”
16 All your enemies mock you and glare at you with hate.
They curl their lips and sneer, “We have destroyed it!
This is the day we have waited for!”
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 around me,
And no one could escape on that day of your anger.
They murdered my children, whom I had raised and loved.
1 How hath the Lord darkened the daughter of Zion in his wrath! and hath cast downe from heauen vnto the earth the beautie of Israel, and remembred not his footestoole in the day of his wrath! 2 The Lord hath destroyed al the habitations of Iaakob, and not spared: he hath throwen downe in his wrath ye strong holds of the daughter of Iudah: he hath cast the downe to ye ground: he hath polluted the kingdome and the princes thereof. 3 Hee hath cut off in his fierce wrath all the horne of Israel: he hath drawen backe his right hand from before the enemie, and there was kindled in Iaakob like a flame of fire, which deuoured rounde about. 4 He hath bent his bowe like an enemie: his right hand was stretched vp as an aduersarie, and slewe al that was pleasant to the eye in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion: he powred out his wrath like fire. 5 The Lord was as an enemie: he hath deuoured Israel, and consumed all his palaces: hee hath destroyed his strong holdes, and hath increased in the daughter of Iudah lamentation and mourning. 6 For hee hath destroyed his Tabernacle, as a garden, hee hath destroyed his Congregation: the Lord hath caused the feastes and Sabbathes to bee forgotten in Zion, and hath despised in the indignation of his wrath the King and the Priest. 7 The Lord hath forsaken his altar: he hath abhorred his Sanctuarie: he hath giue into the hand of the enemie the walles of her palaces: they haue made a noyse in the House of the Lord, as in the day of solemnitie. 8 The Lord hath determined to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion: hee stretched out a lyne: hee hath not withdrawen his hande from destroying: therefore hee made the rampart and the wall to lament: they were destroyed together. 9 Her gates are sunke to the grounde: he hath destroyed and broken her barres: her King and her princes are among the Gentiles: the Lawe is no more, neither can her Prophets receiue any vision from the Lord. 10 The Elders of the daughter of Zion sit vpon the grounde, and keepe silence: they haue cast vp dust vpon their heades: they haue girded them selues with sackecloth: the virgines of Ierusalem hang downe their heades to the ground. 11 Mine eyes doe saile with teares: my bowels swell: my liuer is powred vpon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people, because the children and sucklings swoone in the streetes of the citie. 12 They haue sayd to their mothers, Where is bread and drinke? when they swooned as the wounded in the streetes of the citie, and whe they gaue vp the ghost in their mothers bosome. 13 What thing shall I take to witnesse for thee? what thing shall I compare to thee, O daughter Ierusalem? what shall I liken to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgine daughter Zion? for thy breach is great like ye sea: who can heale thee? 14 Thy Prophets haue looked out vayne, and foolish things for thee, and they haue not discouered thine iniquitie, to turne away thy captiuitie, but haue looked out for thee false prophesies, and causes of banishment. 15 All that passe by the way, clap their hands at thee: they hisse and wagge their head vpon the daughter Ierusalem, saying, Is this the citie that men call, The perfection of beautie, and the ioye of the whole earth? 16 All thine enemies haue opened their mouth against thee: they hisse and gnashe the teeth, saying, Let vs deuoure it: certainely this is the day that we looked for: we haue founde and seene it. 17 The Lord hath done that which he had purposed: he hath fulfilled his worde that he had determined of old time: he hath throwen downe, and not spared: hee hath caused thine enemie to reioyce ouer thee, and set vp the horne of thine aduersaries. 18 Their heart cryed vnto the Lord, O wall of the daughter Zion, let teares runne downe like a riuer, day and night: take thee no rest, neither let the apple of thine eye cease. 19 Arise, cry in the night: in the beginning of the watches powre out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord: lift vp thine handes towarde him for the life of thy yong children, that faint for hunger in the corners of all the streetes. 20 Beholde, O Lord, and consider to whome thou hast done thus: shall the women eate their fruite, and children of a spanne long? shall the Priest and the Prophet be slaine in the Sanctuarie of the Lord? 21 The yong and the olde lie on the ground in the streetes: my virgins and my yong men are fallen by the sworde: thou hast slaine them in the day of thy wrath: thou hast killed and not spared. 22 Thou hast called as in a solemne daye my terrours rounde about, so that in the day of the Lordes wrath none escaped nor remained: those that I haue nourished and brought vp, hath mine enemie consumed.