How Lonely Sits the City
1
1How lonely sits the city that was full of people! How like 2a widow has she become, she who was great among the nations! She who was 3a princess among the provinces has become 4a slave.
2
5She weeps bitterly in the night, with tears on her cheeks; 6among all her lovers she has 7none to comfort her; 8all her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they have become her enemies.
3
9Judah has gone into exile because of affliction and hard servitude; 10she dwells now among the nations, 11but finds no resting place; her pursuers have all overtaken her in the midst of her distress.a
4
The roads to Zion mourn, for none come to 12the festival; 13all her gates are desolate; her priests 14groan; her virgins have been afflicted,b and she herself suffers bitterly.
5
15Her foes have become the head; her 16enemies prosper, because 17the LORD has afflicted her 18for the multitude of her transgressions; 19her children have gone away, captives before the foe.
6
From the daughter of Zion all her majesty has departed. Her princes have become like deer 20that find no pasture; they fled without strength before the pursuer.
7
Jerusalem remembers in the days of her affliction and wandering 21all the precious things that were hers from 22days 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 23mocked at her downfall.
8
24Jerusalem sinned grievously; therefore she became filthy; all who honored her despise her, 25for they have seen her nakedness; she herself 26groans and turns her face away.
9
Her uncleanness was 27in her skirts; 28she took no thought of her future;c therefore her fall is terrible; 29she has no comforter. "O LORD, behold my affliction, for the enemy has 30triumphed!"
10
The enemy has stretched out his hands over all her 31precious things; for she has seen 32the nations enter her sanctuary, those whom you 33forbade to enter your congregation.
11
All her people 34groan as 35they search for bread; they trade their 36treasures for 37food to revive their strength. "Look, O LORD, and see, for I am despised."
12
"Is it nothing to you, all 38you who pass by? 39Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which was brought upon me, which 40the LORD inflicted on 41the day of his fierce anger.
13
"From on high he 42sent fire; into my bonesd he made it descend; 43he spread a net for my feet; he turned me back; 44he has left me stunned, faint all the day long.
14
"My transgressions were bounde into 45a 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.
15
"The Lord rejected all my mighty men in my midst; he summoned an assembly against me to crush my young men; 46the Lord has trodden as in a winepress the virgin daughter of Judah.
16
"For these things 47I weep; my eyes flow with tears; for 48a comforter is far from me, one to 49revive my spirit; my children are desolate, for the enemy has prevailed."
17
50Zion stretches out her hands, but 51there 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.
18
52"The LORD is in the right, 53for I have rebelled against his word; but hear, all you peoples, and see my suffering; 54my young women and my young men have gone into captivity.
19
"I called to 55my lovers, but they deceived me; my priests and elders perished in the city, while 56they sought food to revive their strength.
20
"Look, O LORD, for I am in distress; 57my stomach churns; my heart is wrung within me, because I have been very rebellious. 58In the street the sword bereaves; in the house it is like death.
Herramientas de Estudio para Lamentations 1
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
(English Standard Version - The Holy Bible Online)