Lamentations 2

How the Lord has covered Daughter Zion with a cloud in his anger! He has hurled the splendor of Israel from heaven to earth. He has not remembered his footstool on the day of his wrath.

KJV How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and remembered not his footstool in the day of his anger!

The Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob without mercy. In his fury he has torn down the fortresses of Daughter Judah. He has brought them to the ground; he has profaned the kingdom and its rulers.

KJV The Lord hath swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and hath not pitied: he hath thrown down in his wrath the strong holds of the daughter of Judah; he hath brought them down to the ground: he hath polluted the kingdom and the princes thereof.

In burning anger he has cut off every horn of Israel. He has drawn back his right hand from before the enemy. He has blazed against Jacob like a consuming fire on every side.

KJV He hath cut off in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel: he hath drawn back his right hand from before the enemy, and he burned against Jacob like a flaming fire, which devoureth round about.

He has bent his bow like an enemy, stood with his right hand poised like a foe. He has killed all who were precious to the eye. In the tent of Daughter Zion he has poured out his fury like fire.

KJV He hath bent his bow like an enemy: he stood with his right hand as an adversary, and slew all that were pleasant to the eye in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion: he poured out his fury like fire.

The Lord has become like an enemy. He has swallowed up Israel; he has swallowed up all her palaces and destroyed his fortresses. He has multiplied in Daughter Judah mourning upon mourning.

KJV The Lord was as an enemy: he hath swallowed up Israel, he hath swallowed up all her palaces: he hath destroyed his strong holds, and hath increased in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation.

He has torn down his booth like a garden shelter; he has destroyed his place of meeting. The LORD has made festival and sabbath forgotten in Zion, and in the fury of his anger he has spurned both king and priest.

KJV And he hath violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were of a garden: he hath destroyed his places of the assembly: the LORD hath caused the solemn feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion, and hath despised in the indignation of his anger the king and the priest.

The Lord has rejected his own altar; he has abandoned his own sanctuary. He has handed over to the enemy the walls of her palaces. They raised a shout in the house of the LORD as on the day of a festival.

KJV The Lord hath cast off his altar, he hath abhorred his sanctuary, he hath given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; they have made a noise in the house of the LORD, as in the day of a solemn feast.

The LORD determined to destroy the wall of Daughter Zion. He stretched out the measuring line; he did not restrain his hand from destruction. He made rampart and wall mourn; together they crumble.

KJV The LORD hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion: he hath stretched out a line, he hath not withdrawn his hand from destroying: therefore he made the rampart and the wall to lament; they languished together.

Her gates have sunk into the ground; he has smashed and shattered her bars. Her king and her officials are among the nations where there is no instruction. Even her prophets receive no vision from the LORD.

KJV Her gates are sunk into the ground; he hath destroyed and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no more; her prophets also find no vision from the LORD.

The elders of Daughter Zion sit on the ground in silence. They have thrown dust on their heads and put on sackcloth. The young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground.

KJV The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground, and keep silence: they have cast up dust upon their heads; they have girded themselves with sackcloth: the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.

My eyes are spent with tears; my stomach churns. My bile pours out on the ground over the destruction of the daughter of my people, as children and infants faint in the streets of the city.

KJV Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, my liver is poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people; because the children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the city.

They cry to their mothers, "Where is bread? Where is wine?" as they collapse like the wounded in the streets of the city, as their lives pour out in their mothers' arms.

KJV They say to their mothers, Where is corn and wine? when they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul was poured out into their mothers' bosom.

What can I say for you? To what can I compare you, Daughter Jerusalem? What can I liken to you, that I might comfort you, virgin Daughter Zion? For your wound is as vast as the sea — who can heal you?

KJV What thing shall I take to witness for thee? what thing shall I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? what shall I equal to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? for thy breach is great like the sea: who can heal thee?

Your prophets saw for you visions of emptiness and whitewash. They did not expose your guilt so as to restore your fortunes. The oracles they saw for you were false and misleading.

KJV Thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee: and they have not discovered thine iniquity, to turn away thy captivity; but have seen for thee false burdens and causes of banishment.

All who pass along the road clap their hands at you. They hiss and shake their heads at Daughter Jerusalem: "Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth?"

KJV All that pass by clap their hands at thee; they hiss and wag their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men call The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth?

All your enemies open their mouths wide against you. They hiss and grind their teeth. They say, "We have swallowed her up! This is the day we waited for — we have found it; we have seen it!"

KJV All thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee: they hiss and gnash the teeth: they say, We have swallowed her up: certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen it.

The LORD has done what he planned; he has carried out his decree that he ordained from days of old. He has torn down without mercy; he has let the enemy rejoice over you and raised up the strength of your foes.

KJV The LORD hath done that which he had devised; he hath fulfilled his word that he had commanded in the days of old: he hath thrown down, and hath not pitied: and he hath caused thine enemy to rejoice over thee, he hath set up the horn of thine adversaries.

Their heart cries out to the Lord. O wall of Daughter Zion, let tears flow down like a river day and night! Give yourself no rest; let your eyes find no relief.

KJV Their heart cried unto the Lord, O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night: give thyself no rest; let not the apple of thine eye cease.

Rise up! Cry out in the night, at the start of every watch. Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord. Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your children who faint from hunger at the head of every street.

KJV Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the watches pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord: lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children, that faint for hunger in the top of every street.

Look, LORD, and consider: To whom have you done this? Should women eat their own offspring, the children they have nursed? Should priest and prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?

KJV Behold, O LORD, and consider to whom thou hast done this. Shall the women eat their fruit, and children of a span long? shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?

Young and old lie on the ground in the streets. My young women and my young men have fallen by the sword. You killed them on the day of your anger; you slaughtered without mercy.

KJV The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets: my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword; thou hast slain them in the day of thine anger; thou hast killed, and not pitied.

You summoned terrors against me from every side as on the day of a festival. On the day of the LORD's anger, none escaped, none survived. Those I carried and raised — my enemy has destroyed them.

KJV Thou hast called as in a solemn day my terrors round about, so that in the day of the LORD'S anger none escaped nor remained: those that I have swaddled and brought up hath mine enemy consumed.