ESV Study Bible | English Standard Version

1 a How lonely sits the city
that was full of people!
How like b a widow has she become,
she who was great among the nations!
She who was c a princess among the provinces
has become d a slave.

 2 e She weeps bitterly in the night,
with tears on her cheeks;
f among all her lovers
she has g none to comfort her;
h all her friends have dealt treacherously with her;
they have become her enemies.

 3 i Judah has gone into exile because of affliction
and hard servitude;
j she dwells now among the nations,
k but finds no resting place;
her pursuers have all overtaken her
in the midst of her distress. [1]

 4 The roads to Zion mourn,
for none come to l the festival;
m all her gates are desolate;
her priests n groan;
her virgins have been afflicted, [2]
and she herself suffers bitterly.

 5 o Her foes have become the head;
her p enemies prosper,
because q the Lord has afflicted her
r for the multitude of her transgressions;
s her 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
t that find no pasture;
they fled without strength
before the pursuer.

 7 Jerusalem remembers
in the days of her affliction and wandering
u all the precious things
that were hers from v days 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 w mocked at her downfall.

 8 x Jerusalem sinned grievously;
therefore she became filthy;
all who honored her despise her,
y for they have seen her nakedness;
she herself z groans
and turns her face away.

 9 Her uncleanness was a in her skirts;
b she took no thought of her future; [3]
therefore her fall is terrible;
c she has no comforter.
“O Lord, behold my affliction,
for the enemy has d triumphed!”

10 The enemy has stretched out his hands
over all her e precious things;
for she has seen f the nations
enter her sanctuary,
those whom you g forbade
to enter your congregation.

11 All her people z groan
as h they search for bread;
they trade their e treasures for i food
to revive their strength.
“Look, O Lord, and see,
for I am despised.”

12 “Is it nothing to you, all j you who pass by?
k Look and see
if there is any sorrow like my sorrow,
which was brought upon me,
which l the Lord inflicted
on m the day of his fierce anger.

13 “From on high he n sent fire;
into my bones [4] he made it descend;
o he spread a net for my feet;
he turned me back;
p he has left me stunned,
faint all the day long.

14 “My transgressions were bound [5] into q a 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;
r the Lord has trodden as in a winepress
the virgin daughter of Judah.

16 “For these things s I weep;
my eyes flow with tears;
for t a comforter is far from me,
one to u revive my spirit;
my children are desolate,
for the enemy has prevailed.”

17 v Zion stretches out her hands,
but t there 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 w “The Lord is in the right,
x for I have rebelled against his word;
but hear, all you peoples,
and see my suffering;
y my young women and my young men
have gone into captivity.

19 “I called to z my lovers,
but they deceived me;
my priests and elders
perished in the city,
while a they sought food
to revive their strength.

20 “Look, O Lord, for I am in distress;
b my stomach churns;
my heart is wrung within me,
because I have been very rebellious.
c In the street the sword bereaves;
in the house it is like death.

21 “They heard [6] d my groaning,
yet e there is no one to comfort me.
All my enemies have heard of my trouble;
f they are glad that you have done it.
You have brought [7] the day you announced;
f now let them be as I am.

22 g “Let all their evildoing come before you,
and deal with them
as h you have dealt with me
because of all my transgressions;
for d my groans are many,
and i my heart is faint.”