133 lines
3.9 KiB
Markdown
133 lines
3.9 KiB
Markdown
# Chapter 1
|
||
1 How she sits alone,
|
||
the city once crowded with people!
|
||
She who was great among the nations
|
||
has become like a widow.
|
||
The princess among the provinces
|
||
has been put to forced labor.
|
||
2 She weeps bitterly during the night,
|
||
with tears on her cheeks.
|
||
There is no one to offer her comfort,
|
||
not one from all her lovers.
|
||
All her friends have betrayed her;
|
||
they have become her enemies.
|
||
3 Judah has gone into exile
|
||
following affliction and harsh slavery;
|
||
she lives among the nations
|
||
but finds no place to rest.
|
||
All her pursuers have overtaken her
|
||
in narrow places.
|
||
4 The roads to Zion mourn,
|
||
for no one comes to the appointed festivals.
|
||
All her gates are deserted;
|
||
her priests groan,
|
||
her young women grieve,
|
||
and she herself is bitter.
|
||
5 Her adversaries have become her masters;
|
||
her enemies are at ease,
|
||
for the Lord has made her suffer
|
||
because of her many transgressions.
|
||
Her children have gone away
|
||
as captives before the adversary.
|
||
6 All the splendor has vanished
|
||
from Daughter Zion.
|
||
Her leaders are like stags
|
||
that find no pasture;
|
||
they stumble away exhausted
|
||
before the hunter.
|
||
7 During the days of her affliction and homelessness
|
||
Jerusalem remembers all her precious belongings
|
||
that were hers in days of old.
|
||
When her people fell into the adversary’s hand,
|
||
she had no one to help.
|
||
The adversaries looked at her,
|
||
laughing over her downfall.
|
||
8 Jerusalem has sinned grievously;
|
||
therefore, she has become an object of scorn.
|
||
All who honored her now despise her,
|
||
for they have seen her nakedness.
|
||
She herself groans and turns away.
|
||
9 Her uncleanness stains her skirts.
|
||
She never considered her end.
|
||
Her downfall was astonishing;
|
||
there was no one to comfort her.
|
||
Lord, look on my affliction,
|
||
for the enemy boasts.
|
||
10 The adversary has seized
|
||
all her precious belongings.
|
||
She has even seen the nations
|
||
enter her sanctuary—
|
||
those you had forbidden
|
||
to enter your assembly.
|
||
11 All her people groan
|
||
while they search for bread.
|
||
They have traded their precious belongings for food
|
||
in order to stay alive.
|
||
Lord, look and see
|
||
how I have become despised.
|
||
12 Is this nothing to you, all you who pass by?
|
||
Look and see!
|
||
Is there any pain like mine,
|
||
which was dealt out to me,
|
||
which the Lord made me suffer
|
||
on the day of his burning anger?
|
||
13 He sent fire from on high into my bones;
|
||
he made it descend.
|
||
He spread a net for my feet
|
||
and turned me back.
|
||
He made me desolate,
|
||
sick all day long.
|
||
14 My transgressions have been formed into a yoke,
|
||
fastened together by his hand;
|
||
they have been placed on my neck,
|
||
and the Lord has broken my strength.
|
||
He has handed me over
|
||
to those I cannot withstand.
|
||
15 The Lord has rejected
|
||
all the mighty men within me.
|
||
He has summoned an army against me
|
||
to crush my young warriors.
|
||
The Lord has trampled Virgin Daughter Judah
|
||
like grapes in a winepress.
|
||
16 I weep because of these things;
|
||
my eyes flow with tears.
|
||
For there is no one nearby to comfort me,
|
||
no one to keep me alive.
|
||
My children are desolate
|
||
because the enemy has prevailed.
|
||
17 Zion stretches out her hands;
|
||
there is no one to comfort her.
|
||
The Lord has issued a decree against Jacob
|
||
that his neighbors should be his adversaries.
|
||
Jerusalem has become
|
||
something impure among them.
|
||
18 The Lord is just,
|
||
for I have rebelled against his command.
|
||
Listen, all you people;
|
||
look at my pain.
|
||
My young women and young men
|
||
have gone into captivity.
|
||
19 I called to my lovers,
|
||
but they betrayed me.
|
||
My priests and elders
|
||
perished in the city
|
||
while searching for food
|
||
to keep themselves alive.
|
||
20 Lord, see how I am in distress.
|
||
I am churning within;
|
||
my heart is broken,
|
||
for I have been very rebellious.
|
||
Outside, the sword takes the children;
|
||
inside, there is death.
|
||
21 People have heard me groaning,
|
||
but there is no one to comfort me.
|
||
All my enemies have heard of my misfortune;
|
||
they are glad that you have caused it.
|
||
Bring on the day you have announced,
|
||
so that they may become like me.
|
||
22 Let all their wickedness come before you,
|
||
and deal with them
|
||
as you have dealt with me
|
||
because of all my transgressions.
|
||
For my groans are many,
|
||
and I am sick at heart. |