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Lamentations 1 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

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How Lonely Sits the City

Unchecked Copy BoxLam 1:1 - How lonely sits the city
that was full of people!
How like a widow has she become,
she who was great among the nations!
She who was a princess among the provinces
has become a slave.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 1:2 - She weeps bitterly in the night,
with tears on her cheeks;
among all her lovers
she has none to comfort her;
all her friends have dealt treacherously with her;
they have become her enemies.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 1:3 - Judah has gone into exile because of affliction[fn]
and hard servitude;
she dwells now among the nations,
but finds no resting place;
her pursuers have all overtaken her
in the midst of her distress.[fn]
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 1:4 - The roads to Zion mourn,
for none come to the festival;
all her gates are desolate;
her priests groan;
her virgins have been afflicted,[fn]
and she herself suffers bitterly.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 1:5 - Her foes have become the head;
her enemies prosper,
because the LORD has afflicted her
for the multitude of her transgressions;
her children have gone away,
captives before the foe.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 1:6 - From the daughter of Zion
all her majesty has departed.
Her princes have become like deer
that find no pasture;
they fled without strength
before the pursuer.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 1:7 - Jerusalem remembers
in the days of her affliction and wandering
all the precious things
that were hers from 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 mocked at her downfall.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 1:8 - Jerusalem sinned grievously;
therefore she became filthy;
all who honored her despise her,
for they have seen her nakedness;
she herself groans
and turns her face away.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 1:9 - Her uncleanness was in her skirts;
she took no thought of her future;[fn]
therefore her fall is terrible;
she has no comforter.
“O LORD, behold my affliction,
for the enemy has triumphed!”
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 1:10 - The enemy has stretched out his hands
over all her precious things;
for she has seen the nations
enter her sanctuary,
those whom you forbade
to enter your congregation.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 1:11 - All her people groan
as they search for bread;
they trade their treasures for food
to revive their strength.
“Look, O LORD, and see,
for I am despised.”
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 1:12 - “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?
Look and see
if there is any sorrow like my sorrow,
which was brought upon me,
which the LORD inflicted
on the day of his fierce anger.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 1:13 - “From on high he sent fire;
into my bones[fn] he made it descend;
he spread a net for my feet;
he turned me back;
he has left me stunned,
faint all the day long.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 1:14 - “My transgressions were bound[fn] into 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.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 1:15 - “The Lord rejected
all my mighty men in my midst;
he summoned an assembly against me
to crush my young men;
the Lord has trodden as in a winepress
the virgin daughter of Judah.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 1:16 - “For these things I weep;
my eyes flow with tears;
for a comforter is far from me,
one to revive my spirit;
my children are desolate,
for the enemy has prevailed.”
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 1:17 - Zion stretches out her hands,
but 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.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 1:18 - “The LORD is in the right,
for I have rebelled against his word;
but hear, all you peoples,
and see my suffering;
my young women and my young men
have gone into captivity.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 1:19 - “I called to my lovers,
but they deceived me;
my priests and elders
perished in the city,
while they sought food
to revive their strength.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 1:20 - “Look, O LORD, for I am in distress;
my stomach churns;
my heart is wrung within me,
because I have been very rebellious.
In the street the sword bereaves;
in the house it is like death.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 1:21 - “They heard[fn] my groaning,
yet there is no one to comfort me.
All my enemies have heard of my trouble;
they are glad that you have done it.
You have brought[fn] the day you announced;
now let them be as I am.
Unchecked Copy BoxLam 1:22 - “Let all their evildoing come before you,
and deal with them
as you have dealt with me
because of all my transgressions;
for my groans are many,
and my heart is faint.”
ESV Footnotes
Or under affliction
Or in the narrow passes
Septuagint, Old Latin dragged away
Or end
Septuagint; Hebrew bones and
The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
Septuagint, Syriac Hear
Syriac Bring
ESV

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Books and Bibles, a Publishing Ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

See detailed copyright information.

For more information on this translation, see the ESV Preface.

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