The Lord Has Destroyed Without Pity
How the Lord in his anger
has set the daughter of Zion aunder a cloud!
bHe has cast down from heaven to earth
the splendor of Israel;
he has not remembered chis footstool
in the day of his anger.
2 The Lord ahas swallowed up bwithout mercy
all the habitations of Jacob;
in his wrath che has broken down
the strongholds of the daughter of Judah;
he has brought ddown to the ground din dishonor
the kingdom eand its rulers.
3 He has cut down in afierce anger
all bthe might of Israel;
che has withdrawn from them his right hand
in the face of the enemy;
dhe has burned like a flaming fire in Jacob,
consuming all around.
4 aHe has bent his bow like an enemy,
with his right hand set blike a foe;
and he has killed all who were delightful in our eyes;
in the tent of the daughter of Zion,
he has poured out his fury like fire.
5 aThe Lord has become like an enemy;
bhe has swallowed up Israel;
che has swallowed up all its palaces;
he has laid in ruins its strongholds,
and he has multiplied in the daughter of Judah
dmourning and lamentation.
6 He has laid waste his booth like a garden,
laid in ruins ahis meeting place;
athe Lord has made Zion forget
festival and bSabbath,
and in his fierce indignation has spurned king and priest.
7 aThe Lord has scorned his altar,
bdisowned his sanctuary;
che has delivered into the hand of the enemy
the walls of her palaces;
dthey raised a clamor in the house of the Lord
as on the day of festival.
8 aThe Lord determined to lay in ruins
bthe wall of the daughter of Zion;
che stretched out the measuring line;
he did not restrain his hand from destroying;
dhe caused rampart and wall to lament;
dthey languished together.
9 Her gates have sunk into the ground;
ahe has ruined aand broken her bars;
bher king and princes are among the nations;
the law is no more,
and cher prophets find
no vision from the Lord.
10 The elders of the daughter of Zion
asit on the ground bin silence;
cthey have thrown dust on their heads
and dput on sackcloth;
the young women of Jerusalem
have bowed their heads to the ground.
11 aMy eyes are spent with weeping;
bmy stomach churns;
cmy bile is poured out to the ground
dbecause of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
ebecause infants and babies ffaint
in the streets of the city.
12 They cry to their mothers,
a“Where is bread and wine?”
bas they faint like a wounded man
in the streets of the city,
as their life is poured out
on their mothers’ bosom.
13 What can I say for you, ato what compare you,
O daughter of Jerusalem?
aWhat can I liken to you, that I may comfort you,
O virgin daughter of Zion?
bFor your ruin is vast as the sea;
who can heal you?
14 aYour prophets have seen for you
false and deceptive visions;
bthey have not exposed your iniquity
to crestore your fortunes,
dbut have seen for you eoracles
that are false and misleading.
15 All who pass along the way
clap their hands at you;
athey hiss and wag their heads
at the daughter of Jerusalem:
“Is this the city that was called
bthe perfection of beauty,
bthe joy of all the earth?”
16 aAll your enemies
rail against you;
they hiss, they gnash their teeth,
they cry: “We bhave swallowed her!
Ah, this is the day we longed for;
now we have it; cwe see it!”
17 The Lord has done what he purposed;
he has carried out ahis word,
which he commanded blong ago;
che has thrown down dwithout pity;
ehe has made the enemy rejoice over you
and exalted the fmight of your foes.
18 Their heart cried to the Lord.
O awall of the daughter of Zion,
blet tears stream down like a torrent
cday and night!
dGive yourself no rest,
eyour eyes no respite!
19 “Arise, acry out in the night,
at the beginning of the night watches!
bPour out your heart like water
before the presence of the Lord!
cLift your hands to him
for the lives of your children,
dwho faint for hunger
at the head of every street.”
20 Look, O Lord, and see!
aWith whom have you dealt thus?
bShould women eat the fruit of their womb,
the children of ctheir tender care?
Should dpriest and prophet be killed
in the sanctuary of the Lord?
21 In the dust of the streets
alie the young and the old;
amy young women and my young men
have fallen by the sword;
byou have killed them in the day of your anger,
slaughtering cwithout pity.
22 You summoned as if to aa festival day
bmy terrors on every side,
cand on the day of the anger of the Lord
no one escaped or survived;
dthose whom I held and raised
my enemy destroyed.