She, weepeth sore, in the night, and, her tear, is on her cheek, She hath none to comfort her, of all her lovers, - All her friends, have betrayed her, have become her foes.

Carried away captive is Judah - because of oppression, and because of great servitude, She, hath remained among the nations, hath found no place of rest, - All her pursuers, have overtaken her, between straits.

Her adversaries have become chief, her foes, are at ease, for, Yahweh, hath grieved her, because of the multitude of her transgressions, - Her children, have gone into captivity, before the adversary.

Thus hath gone forth from the daughter of Zion, all that adorned her, - Her princes have become like harts that have found no pasture, and have gone strengthless before the pursuer.

Jerusalem hath remembered in the days of her humiliation and her fleeings - all her precious things, which have existed from the days of old, - Now that her people have been falling into the hand of the adversary, with none to help her, the adversaries have seen her, have mocked over her sabbath-keepings.

Jerusalem, hath grievously sinned, For this cause, unto exile, hath she been delivered, - All who used to honour her, have despised her, for they have descried her unseemliness, yea, she herself, hath sighed, and turned back.

The hand of her hater is stretched out over all her desired things; for she has seen that the nations have come into her holy place, about whom you gave orders that they were not to come into the meeting of your people.

All her people, are sighing, seeking bread, They have given their precious things for food, to bring back life, - Behold, O Yahweh, and discern, that I have become worthless.

The yoke of my transgressions, hath been bound, by his hand - They have intertwined themselves, have come up on my neck, it hath paralysed my strength, - My Lord, hath delivered me, into the hands of those against whom I cannot rise up.

For these I am weeping, My eye, my eye, is running down with waters, For, far from me hath been a comforter, Refreshing my soul, My sons have been desolate, For mighty hath been an enemy.

(Pe) Zion spread out her hands, but there is no one to comfort her. The Lord has issued a decree against Jacob; his neighbors have become his enemies. Jerusalem has become like filthy garbage in their midst.

Righteous is Yahweh, for, against his bidding, had I rebelled, - Hear, I pray you, all ye peoples, and see my pain, My virgins and my young men, have gone into exile.

I called to my lovers, they, deceived me, My priests and mine elders, in the city, have breathed their last, - for they sought them food, that they might bring back their life.

See, O Yahweh, that I am in distress, Mine inward parts, are in ferment, My heart is turned within me, for I have obstinately rebelled, - Without, bereaveth the sword, Within, is like death,

They have heard - that, sighing am, I, and am saying - There is none to comfort me, All my foes, - having heard of my calamity - have rejoiced, because, thou, hast done it, - thou hast brought in the day thou didst proclaim, So let them become like me.

Let all their evil come before you; and deal with them just as you have dealt with me because of all my crimes; for my groaning is much and my heart [is] faint.

How could My Lord, in his anger, enshroud in gloom, the daughter of Zion? have cast from the heavens to the earth, the beauty of Israel? and not have remembered his footstool, in the day of his anger?

My Lord hath rejected his altar, hath abhorred his sanctuary, hath delivered, into the hand of the foe, the walls of her castles, - A voice, have they uttered in the house of Yahweh, as on the day of an appointed assembly.

Yahweh hath devised to lay in ruins, the wall of the daughter of Zion, he hath stretched out a line, he hath not turned back his hand from swallowing up, - Thus hath he caused to mourn - rampart and wall, together, have they languished!

Her gates, have sunk in the earth, He hath destroyed and broken in pieces, her bars, - Her king and her princes, are among the nations, There is no instruction, Even her prophets, have found no vision, from Yahweh.

Seated on the ground, in silence, are the elders of the daughter of Zion, They have lifted up dust on their head, have girded themselves with sackcloth, - Bowed down to the ground is the head, of the virgins of Jerusalem.

My eyes have {spent all their tears}; {my stomach} is in torment, {my heart} is poured out on the earth because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because child and babe faint in [the] public squares of a city.

Thy prophets, have had visions for thee, false and foolish, and have not unveiled thine iniquity, to turn back thy captivity, - Yea they have had visions for thee, oracles of falsehood, and enticements!

All passing by, have clapped, over thee, their hands, have hissed and wagged their head over the daughter of Jerusalem, - saying , Is, this, the city, of which men used to say - The perfection of beauty! A joy to the whole earth!

All thy foes, have opened wide, over thee their mouth, They have hissed, and gnashed their teeth, They have said - We have swallowed her up! Surely, this, is the day for which we have waited, We have found! We have seen!

Their heart cried out to the Lord,
“O wall of the daughter of Zion,
Let your tears run down like a river day and night;
Give yourself no relief,
Let your eyes have no rest.

See, O Yahweh, and do consider, to whom thou hast acted thus severely, - Will women, devour, their own fruit - the children they have dandled? Shall priest and prophet, be slain in the sanctuary of My Lord?

The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets: my virgins and my young men have fallen by the sword; thou hast slain them in the day of thy anger; thou hast killed, and not pitied.

Thou hast called as in a solemn day my terrors around, so that in the day of the LORD'S anger none escaped nor remained: those that I have swaddled and brought up, hath my enemy consumed.

I the man have seen affliction by the rod of His wrath.

By him I have been made to go in the dark where there is no light.

My flesh and my skin have been used up by him and my bones broken.

He hath made me to dwell in dark places, as those that have been long dead.

By him my ways have been turned on one side and I have been pulled in bits; he has made me waste.

I have become a derision to all my people, their song all the day;

By him my teeth have been broken with crushed stones, and I am bent low in the dust.

And thou hast thrust away from welfare, my soul, I have forgotten prosperity;

And I have said, "My glory is ruined, my expectation from Yahweh."

I continually remember them
and have become depressed.

This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.

It is through the Lord's love that we have not come to destruction, because his mercies have no limit.

I said to myself, The Lord is my heritage; and because of this I will have hope in him.

Let him offer his cheek to the one who hits him; let him have his fill of insults.

But though he causeth grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies.

Who can speak a thing and have it come to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it?

We have transgressed and have rebelled: thou hast not pardoned.

You have covered [yourself] {in anger} and pursued us, you have slain and not shown mercy.

You have covered yourself in a cloud {so that prayer cannot pass through}.

You have made us scum and refuse in the midst of the nations.

All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.

Terror and a pit, have befallen us, tumult and grievous injury;

My eyes have poured down unceasingly without respite,

They, have laid snares, for me as a bird, who are mine enemies without cause:

They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me.

Flowed have waters over my head, I have said, I have been cut off.

I have called upon thy Name, O Yahweh, out of the dungeon below;

You have heard my cry, "Do not shut your ear to my cry for help, for my relief!"

You came near in the day when I made my prayer to you: you said, Have no fear.

O Lord, you have pleaded for {my cause}, you have redeemed my life.

You have seen my injustice, O Yahweh; judge my case.

You have seen all their vengeance, all there plans against me.

You have heard their disgrace, O Yahweh, all their plans against me.

(Tav) Pay them back what they deserve, O Lord, according to what they have done.

How tarnished the gold has become, the finest gold debased! Sacred stones have been scattered at every street corner.

The precious sons of Zion, Who are comparable with fine gold, How have they been reckoned earthen bottles, Work of the hands of a potter.

Even the beasts of the waste land have full breasts, they give milk to their young ones: the daughter of my people has become cruel like the ostriches in the waste land.

The tongue of the suckling, cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst, - Young children, have asked bread, there was none, to break, it to them.

They who used to eat delicacies, are deserted in the streets, - They who used to be carried on crimson, have embraced heaps of refuse.

Their face is blacker than night; in the streets no one has knowledge of them: their skin is hanging on their bones, they are dry, they have become like wood.

Happier were [the] victims of [the] sword than the victims of famine; they have pined away, very hungry for the crops of my field.

The hands of the pitiful women have boiled their own children: they were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the world, would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy would have entered into the gates of Jerusalem.

For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her.

They have wandered as blind men in the streets, they have polluted themselves with blood, so that men could not touch their garments.

Turn aside! Unclean! have they cried to them, Turn aside! Turn aside! Do not touch! because they have fled, yea, wandered, Men said among the nations, They will not again tarry;

The face of Yahweh, hath scattered them, He will look them out no more: The persons of the priests, they have not respected, To the elders, have they shown no favour.

As for us, our eyes as yet failed for our vain help: in our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save us.

They have laid snares for our steps, that we cannot walk in our own broadways: Drawn near hath our end, Fulfilled are our days, yea arrived hath our end.

Swifter are our pursuers, than the eagles of the heavens, - Over the mountains, have they come hotly after us, In the wilderness, have they lain in wait for us.

Have joy and be glad, O daughter of Edom, living in the land of Uz: the cup will be given to you in your turn, and you will be overcome with wine and your shame will be seen.

{The Prayer of Jeremiah} Call to remembrance, O LORD, what we have suffered; consider and see our confusion.

Orphans, have we become, and fatherless, our mothers, are widows indeed.

We have drank our water for money; our wood is sold to us.

Our necks are under persecution: we labor, and have no rest.

We have given the hand to the Egyptians, and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.

Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities.

Servants have ruled over us: there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand.

We have to get our bread at the risk of our lives, because of the sword of the wilderness.

They have ravished the women in Zion, the maids in the cities of Judah.

Princes, by their hand, have been hanged, The faces of elders, not honoured.

Young men, a millstone, have lifted, and, youths, under wood, have staggered.

The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their music.

Our hearts no longer have any joy; our dancing is turned to mourning.

The crown is fallen from our head: woe to us, that we have sinned!

Because of this, our heart has become faint, because of these, our eyes have become dim.

Because of Mount Zion, which is desolate, jackals, have gone prowling therein.

Why have you forgotten us forever? Why have you forsaken us {for so long}?

Unless you have utterly rejected us, unless you are angry with us beyond measure.