The adversary has spread out his hand
Over all her precious and desirable things;
For she has seen the [Gentile] nations enter her sanctuary (the Jerusalem temple)—
The ones whom You commanded
That they should not enter into Your congregation [not even in the outer courts].

I am [Jeremiah] the man who has seen affliction
Because of the rod of His wrath.

He has caused the arrows of His quiver
To enter my inner parts.

You will pursue them in anger and destroy them
From under the heavens of the Lord.

The kings of the earth did not believe,
Nor did any of the inhabitants of the earth,
That the adversary (oppressor) and enemy
Could enter the gates of Jerusalem.

The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord [our king],
Was captured in their snares,
He of whom we had said, “Under his shadow
We shall live among the nations.”

Young men worked at the grinding mill,
And boys fell [staggering] under loads of wood.