¹ א How^◦ has the Lord thickly·​·clouded the daughter of Zion in His anger, and cast from the heavens to the earth the splendor of Israel, and remembered not the stool of His feet in the day of His anger!

² ב The Lord has swallowed·​·up all the homes of Jacob, and has not pitied; He has broken·​·down in His wrath the fortresses of the daughter of Judah; He has thrown^* them to the earth; He has profaned the kingdom and the princes of it.

³ ג He has hewn·​·off in fierce anger all the horn of Israel; He has turned·​·back His right·​·hand from before the enemy, and He burned against Jacob as a flaming fire, which devours all around.

⁴ ד He has bent^◦ His bow as an enemy; He stood·​·up with His right·​·hand as an adversary, and killed all who were desirable to the eye; in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion He spilled·​·out His fury as fire.

⁵ ה The Lord was as an enemy; He has swallowed·​·up Israel, He has swallowed·​·up all her palaces; He has destroyed His fortresses, and has multiplied in the daughter of Judah sighing and sighs.

⁶ ו And He has done·​·violence to His shelter as if it were a garden; He has destroyed His solemn·​·occasion. Jehovah has caused the solemn·​·occasion and the Sabbath to be forgotten in Zion, and has disdained in the indignation of His anger the king and the priest.

⁷ ז The Lord has cast·​·off His altar, He has spurned His sanctuary; He has shut up in the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; they have given forth a voice in the house of Jehovah, as in the day of a solemn·​·occasion.

⁸ ח Jehovah has reckoned to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion; He has stretched·​·out a line, He has not turned·​·back His hand from swallowing·​·up: and He made the rampart and the wall to mourn; they languished together.

⁹ ט Her gates are sunk into the earth; He has made her bars perish and broken them; her king and her princes are among the nations. There is no law; even her prophets find not a vision from Jehovah.

¹⁰ י The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the earth, and are still; they have made the dust come·​·up upon their heads; they have girded themselves with sackcloth; the virgins of Jerusalem let·​·down their heads to the earth.

¹¹ כ My eyes are all·​·consumed by tears, my bowels churn, my liver is spilled·​·out to the earth, for^▵ the breaking of the daughter of my people; because the babe and the nursing infant are·​·overwhelmed in the avenues of the city^◦.

¹² ל They say to their mothers, when they are·​·overwhelmed as the slain in the avenues of the city, when their soul was spilled·​·out into^▵ the bosom of their mothers: Where is grain and wine?

¹³ מ What shall I testify for thee? To what shall I liken thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I make·​·equal^◦ to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? For thy breaking is as great as the sea; who can heal thee?

¹⁴ נ Thy prophets have beheld for thee what is vain and unfit; and they have not revealed thine iniquity, to turn·​·back thy captivity; but they have beheld for thee vain burdens and expulsions.

¹⁵ ס All that pass·​·by the way slap the palms of their hands on thee; they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men say is the all of beauty, the joy of all the earth?

¹⁶ פ All thine enemies have gaped with their mouth against thee; they hiss and gnash the teeth; they say, We have swallowed· her ·up; surely this is the day that we waited·​·for; we have·​·found it, we have seen it.

¹⁷ ע Jehovah has done that which He had purposed; He has gained His saying that He had commanded from ancient days; He has broken·​·down, and has not pitied; and He has caused the enemy to be·​·glad over thee, He has exalted the horn of thine adversaries.

¹⁸ צ Their heart cried to^▵ the Lord, O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears go·​·down as a brook day and night; give not failing for thyself; let not the daughter of thine eye be·​·still.

¹⁹ ק Arise, shout·​·aloud in the night; in the beginning^◦ of the night watches^▵ spill·​·out thy heart like^◦ water before the face of the Lord: lift the palms of thy hands to^▵ Him over the souls of thy babes, who are·​·overwhelmed by hunger at the head of all the streets.

²⁰ ר See, O Jehovah, and look to whom Thou hast acted thus. Shall the women eat their fruit, babes who were cherished; shall the priest and the prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?

²¹ ש A lad and an elder lie on the earth in the streets; my virgins and my young·​·men are fallen by the sword; Thou hast killed them in the day of Thine anger; Thou hast butchered, and not pitied.

²² ת Thou hast called as a solemn day my fears^◦ all around, and there will not be in the day of the anger of Jehovah one who escaped^◦ or^◦ a survivor; those that I have cherished and nurtured^* has my enemy completely·​·consumed.

¹ The word of Jehovah that was to^▵ Jeremiah^◦ concerning the matter of the dearth.

² Judah mourns, and his gates languish; they blacken unto the land; and the clamor of Jerusalem is gone·​·up.

³ And their magnificent ones have sent their little ones to the waters; they came upon the marshes, and found not water; they returned with their vessels empty; they were·​·ashamed and humiliated, and covered·​·over their heads.

⁴ On^◦ this account the ground was·​·dismayed, for there were no^◦ showers in the land, the farmers were·​·ashamed, they covered·​·over their heads.

⁵ For the doe also gave·​·birth in the field, and forsook it, for there was not tender·​·herb.

⁶ And the wild·​·asses did stand on the slopes, they gulped wind like^◦ dragons; their eyes were all·​·consumed, for there was no herb.

⁷ O Jehovah, though our iniquities answer against^◦ us, do Thou it because·​·of^◦ Thy name; for our backturnings are·​·many; we have sinned against^▵ Thee.

⁸ The hope^◦ of Israel, his Saviour in time of adversity, why shouldest Thou be as a sojourner in the land, and as a traveler who inclines to pass·​·the·​·night?

⁹ Why shouldest Thou be as a man^◦ astounded, as a hero not able to save? But Thou^◦, O Jehovah, art among us, and upon us is Thy name called. Leave· us not ·alone.

¹⁰ Thus says Jehovah to this people, They have loved so to go·​·to·​·and·​·fro, they have not kept·​·back their feet, and Jehovah is not well·​·pleased in them. Now He will remember their iniquity, and visit their sins.

¹¹ Then said Jehovah unto^▵ me, Pray not for this people for their good.

¹² When^◦ they fast, I will not^◦ hearken unto^▵ their cry; and when^◦ they offer·​·up burnt·​·offering and a gift·​·offering, I will not^◦ be·​·well·​·pleased in them; but^◦ I^▵ will consume· them ·all by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.

¹³ And I said, Alas, Lord Jehovih^*! behold, the prophets say to them, You shall not see the sword, neither shall you have^◦ famine; but^◦ I will give you the peace of truth in this place.

¹⁴ And Jehovah said to^▵ me, The prophets prophesy a falsity in My name; I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spoke I unto^▵ them: they^◦ prophesy to you a false vision, and a divination, and a thing·​·of·​·nought^◦, and the deceit of their heart.

¹⁵ Therefore thus says Jehovah concerning the prophets who prophesy in My name, and I^◦ sent them not, and they^◦ say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land; by Sword and by famine shall those^◦ prophets be entirely consumed.

¹⁶ And the people to whom they^◦ prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem on·​·account·​·of^◦ the famine and the sword; and they^◦ shall have^◦ none to bury them^◦, them^◦, their wives, nor^◦ their sons, nor^◦ their daughters; and I will spill·​·out their evil upon them.

¹⁷ And thou shalt say this word to^▵ them; Let the tears of My eye go·​·down by night and by·​·day, and let them not be·​·still; for with a great breaking the virgin daughter of My people is broken, with a very weakening blow^◦.

¹⁸ If I go·​·out into the field, then behold the slain of the sword! and if I go·​·into the city, then behold the sicknesses of famine! For both^◦ the prophet and^◦ the priest trade to^▵ a land, and they know it not.

¹⁹ Rejecting hast thou rejected Judah? Shall Thy soul abhor Zion? Wherefore hast Thou smitten us, and there is no healing for us? We waited for peace, and there was no good, and for a time of healing, and behold panic!

²⁰ We know, O Jehovah, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers; for we have sinned against^▵ Thee.

²¹ Do not disdain us, because·​·of^◦ Thy name, do not disparage the throne of Thy glory; remember, do not make· Thy covenant with^◦ us ·of·​·none·​·effect.

²² Are·​·there any among^◦ the vanities^◦ of the nations that can cause·​·showers, or^◦ shall the heavens give raindrops? Art not Thou^◦ He^◦, O Jehovah our God? Then we will wait for Thee, for Thou^◦ hast made all of these.