Study Desk

^[a]How the Lord has covered Daughter Zion with the cloud of his anger^[b]!^(a) He has hurled down the splendor of Israel from heaven to earth; he has not remembered his footstool^(b) in the day of his anger.^(c)

Without pity^(d) the Lord has swallowed^(e) up all the dwellings of Jacob; in his wrath he has torn down the strongholds^(f) of Daughter Judah. He has brought her kingdom and its princes down to the ground^(g) in dishonor.

In fierce anger he has cut off every horn^[c][d](h) of Israel. He has withdrawn his right hand⁽ⁱ⁾ at the approach of the enemy. He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire that consumes everything around it.^(j)

Like an enemy he has strung his bow;^(k) his right hand is ready. Like a foe he has slain all who were pleasing to the eye;^(l) he has poured out his wrath^(m) like fire⁽ⁿ⁾ on the tent^(o) of Daughter Zion.

The Lord is like an enemy;^(p) he has swallowed up Israel. He has swallowed up all her palaces and destroyed her strongholds.^(q) He has multiplied mourning and lamentation^(r) for Daughter Judah.^(s)

He has laid waste his dwelling like a garden; he has destroyed^(t) his place of meeting.^(u) The Lord has made Zion forget her appointed festivals and her Sabbaths;^(v) in his fierce anger he has spurned both king and priest.^(w)

The Lord has rejected his altar and abandoned his sanctuary.^(x) He has given the walls of her palaces^(y) into the hands of the enemy; they have raised a shout in the house of the Lord as on the day of an appointed festival.^(z)

The Lord determined to tear down the wall around Daughter Zion.^(aa) He stretched out a measuring line^(ab) and did not withhold his hand from destroying. He made ramparts^(ac) and walls lament; together they wasted away.^(ad)

Her gates^(ae) have sunk into the ground; their bars^(af) he has broken and destroyed. Her king and her princes are exiled^(ag) among the nations, the law^(ah) is no more, and her prophets^(ai) no longer find visions^(aj) from the Lord .

The elders of Daughter Zion sit on the ground in silence;^(ak) they have sprinkled dust^(al) on their heads^(am) and put on sackcloth.^(an) The young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground.^(ao)

My eyes fail from weeping,^(ap) I am in torment within^(aq); my heart^(ar) is poured out^(as) on the ground because my people are destroyed,^(at) because children and infants faint^(au) in the streets of the city.

They say to their mothers, "Where is bread and wine?"^(av) as they faint like the wounded in the streets of the city, as their lives ebb away^(aw) in their mothers' arms.^(ax)

What can I say for you?^(ay) With what can I compare you, Daughter^(az) Jerusalem? To what can I liken you, that I may comfort you, Virgin Daughter Zion?^(ba) Your wound is as deep as the sea.^(bb) Who can heal you?

The visions of your prophets were false^(bc) and worthless; they did not expose your sin to ward off your captivity.^(bd) The prophecies they gave you were false and misleading.^(be)

All who pass your way clap their hands at you;^(bf) they scoff^(bg) and shake their heads^(bh) at Daughter Jerusalem:^(bi) "Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty,^(bj) the joy of the whole earth?"^(bk)

All your enemies open their mouths wide against you;^(bl) they scoff and gnash their teeth^(bm) and say, "We have swallowed her up.^(bn) This is the day we have waited for; we have lived to see it."^(bo)

The Lord has done what he planned; he has fulfilled^(bp) his word, which he decreed long ago.^(bq) He has overthrown you without pity,^(br) he has let the enemy gloat over you,^(bs) he has exalted the horn^[e] of your foes.^(bt)

The hearts of the people cry out to the Lord.^(bu) You walls of Daughter Zion,^(bv) let your tears^(bw) flow like a river day and night;^(bx) give yourself no relief, your eyes no rest.^(by)

Arise, cry out in the night, as the watches of the night begin; pour out your heart^(bz) like water in the presence of the Lord.^(ca) Lift up your hands^(cb) to him for the lives of your children, who faint^(cc) from hunger at every street corner.

"Look, Lord , and consider: Whom have you ever treated like this? Should women eat their offspring,^(cd) the children they have cared for?^(ce) Should priest and prophet be killed^(cf) in the sanctuary of the Lord?^(cg)

"Young and old lie together in the dust of the streets; my young men and young women have fallen by the sword.^(ch) You have slain them in the day of your anger; you have slaughtered them without pity.^(ci)

"As you summon to a feast day, so you summoned against me terrors^(cj) on every side. In the day of the Lord 's anger no one escaped^(ck) or survived; those I cared for and reared^(cl) my enemy has destroyed."