Shared Word Translation
Lamentations 1
The City Sits Alone
How she sits alone,
the city once full of people!
She has become like a widow,
she who was great among the nations.
A princess among the provinces
has become forced labor.
She weeps bitterly in the night,
and her tears are on her cheeks.
She has no comforter
among all her lovers.
All her companions have betrayed her;
they have become her enemies.
Judah has gone into exile
under affliction and harsh servitude.
She dwells among the nations
and finds no rest.
All her pursuers overtook her
in narrow places.
The roads to Zion mourn
because no one comes to the appointed festival.
All her gates are desolate;
her priests groan.
Her young women grieve,
and she herself is bitter.
Her Adversaries Have Become the Head
Her adversaries have become the head;
her enemies are at ease,
for the LORD has afflicted her
because of the multitude of her transgressions.
Her little children have gone into captivity
before the adversary.
All splendor has departed
from daughter Zion.
Her princes have become like deer
that find no pasture;
they go without strength
before the pursuer.
Jerusalem remembers,
in the days of her affliction and wandering,
all her precious things
that were hers in days of old.
When her people fell into the hand of the adversary
and there was no one to help her,
the adversaries saw her
and laughed at her downfall.
Jerusalem sinned greatly;
therefore she has become an impurity.
All who honored her despise her
because they have seen her nakedness.
She herself groans
and turns away.
See, O LORD, My Affliction
Her uncleanness was in her skirts;
she did not remember her end.
She fell astonishingly;
there is no one to comfort her.
“See, O LORD, my affliction,
for the enemy has magnified himself.”
The adversary has spread his hand
over all her precious things.
She has seen nations enter her sanctuary,
those whom you commanded
not to enter your assembly.
All her people groan
as they seek bread.
They give their precious things for food
to restore their lives.
“See, O LORD, and look,
for I have become despised.”
Is There Any Pain Like My Pain?
Is it nothing to you,
all who pass by?
Look and see
if there is any pain like my pain,
which was dealt to me,
with which the LORD afflicted me
on the day of his fierce anger.
From on high he sent fire
into my bones,
and it prevailed over them.
He spread a net for my feet;
he turned me back.
He made me desolate,
faint all day long.
The yoke of my transgressions
was bound by his hand;
they were intertwined
and came up upon my neck.
He made my strength fail.
The Lord gave me into hands
against which I cannot stand.
The Lord rejected
all my mighty ones in my midst.
He summoned an assembly against me
to crush my young men.
The Lord has trodden the winepress
for virgin daughter Judah.
There Is No Comforter
For these things I weep;
my eye, my eye pours down water,
because a comforter is far from me,
one who would restore my life.
My children are desolate,
for the enemy has prevailed.
Zion stretches out her hands;
there is no one to comfort her.
The LORD has commanded concerning Jacob
that those around him become his adversaries.
Jerusalem has become
an impurity among them.
The LORD is righteous,
for I rebelled against his mouth.
Hear, all you peoples,
and see my pain:
my young women and my young men
have gone into captivity.
My Sighs Are Many
I called to my lovers,
but they deceived me.
My priests and my elders
perished in the city
while seeking food for themselves
to restore their lives.
See, O LORD,
for I am in distress.
My inward parts churn;
my heart is overturned within me,
for I have greatly rebelled.
Outside, the sword bereaves;
inside, there is death.
They have heard that I groan;
there is no one to comfort me.
All my enemies have heard of my disaster;
they rejoice because you have done it.
Bring the day you proclaimed,
and let them become like me.
Let all their evil come before you,
and deal with them
as you have dealt with me
because of all my transgressions.
For my sighs are many,
and my heart is faint.