How Lonely Sits the City
aHow lonely sits the city
that was full of people!
How like ba widow has she become,
she who was great among the nations!
She who was ca princess among the provinces
has become da slave.
2 aShe weeps bitterly in the night,
with tears on her cheeks;
bamong all her lovers
she has cnone to comfort her;
dall her friends have dealt treacherously with her;
they have become her enemies.
3 aJudah has gone into exile because of affliction
and hard servitude;
bshe dwells now among the nations,
cbut finds no resting place;
her pursuers have all overtaken her
in the midst of her distress.
4 The roads to Zion mourn,
for none come to athe festival;
ball her gates are desolate;
her priests cgroan;
her virgins have been afflicted,
and she herself suffers bitterly.
5 aHer foes have become the head;
her benemies prosper,
because cthe Lord has afflicted her
dfor the multitude of her transgressions;
eher children have gone away,
captives before the foe.
6 From the daughter of Zion
all her majesty has departed.
Her princes have become like deer
athat find no pasture;
they fled without strength
before the pursuer.
7 Jerusalem remembers
in the days of her affliction and wandering
aall the precious things
that were hers from bdays of old.
When her people fell into the hand of the foe,
and there was none to help her,
her foes gloated over her;
they cmocked at her downfall.
8 aJerusalem sinned grievously;
therefore she became filthy;
all who honored her despise her,
bfor they have seen her nakedness;
she herself cgroans
and turns her face away.
9 Her uncleanness was ain her skirts;
bshe took no thought of her future;
therefore her fall is terrible;
cshe has no comforter.
“O Lord, behold my affliction,
for the enemy has dtriumphed!”
10 The enemy has stretched out his hands
over all her aprecious things;
for she has seen bthe nations
enter her sanctuary,
those whom you cforbade
to enter your congregation.
11 All her people agroan
as bthey search for bread;
they trade their ctreasures for dfood
to revive their strength.
“Look, O Lord, and see,
for I am despised.”
12 “Is it nothing to you, all ayou who pass by?
bLook and see
if there is any sorrow like my sorrow,
which was brought upon me,
which cthe Lord inflicted
on dthe day of his fierce anger.
13 “From on high he asent fire;
into my bones he made it descend;
bhe spread a net for my feet;
he turned me back;
che has left me stunned,
faint all the day long.
14 “My transgressions were bound into aa yoke;
by his hand they were fastened together;
they were set upon my neck;
he caused my strength to fail;
the Lord gave me into the hands
of those whom I cannot withstand.
15 “The Lord rejected
all my mighty men in my midst;
he summoned an assembly against me
to crush my young men;
athe Lord has trodden as in a winepress
the virgin daughter of Judah.
16 “For these things aI weep;
my eyes flow with tears;
for ba comforter is far from me,
one to crevive my spirit;
my children are desolate,
for the enemy has prevailed.”
17 aZion stretches out her hands,
but bthere is none to comfort her;
the Lord has commanded against Jacob
that his neighbors should be his foes;
Jerusalem has become
a filthy thing among them.
18 a“The Lord is in the right,
bfor I have rebelled against his word;
but hear, all you peoples,
and see my suffering;
cmy young women and my young men
have gone into captivity.
19 “I called to amy lovers,
but they deceived me;
my priests and elders
perished in the city,
while bthey sought food
to revive their strength.
20 “Look, O Lord, for I am in distress;
amy stomach churns;
my heart is wrung within me,
because I have been very rebellious.
bIn the street the sword bereaves;
in the house it is like death.
21 “They heard amy groaning,
yet bthere is no one to comfort me.
All my enemies have heard of my trouble;
cthey are glad that you have done it.
You have brought the day you announced;
cnow let them be as I am.
22 a“Let all their evildoing come before you,
and deal with them
as byou have dealt with me
because of all my transgressions;
for cmy groans are many,
and dmy heart is faint.”