The roads of Zion are in mourning
Because no one comes to the appointed feasts.
All her gates are desolate;
Her priests are groaning,
Her virgins are afflicted,
And she herself is bitter.

Her adversaries have become her masters,
Her enemies prosper;
For the Lord has caused her grief
Because of the multitude of her transgressions;
Her little ones have gone away
As captives before the adversary.

Jerusalem sinned greatly,
Therefore she has become an unclean thing.
All who honored her despise her
Because they have seen her nakedness;
Even she herself groans and turns away.

“For these things I weep;
My eyes run down with water;
Because far from me is a comforter,
One who restores my soul.
My children are desolate
Because the enemy has prevailed.”

My eyes fail because of tears,
My spirit is greatly troubled;
My heart is poured out on the earth
Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
When little ones and infants faint
In the streets of the city.

“Arise, cry aloud in the night
At the beginning of the night watches;
Pour out your heart like water
Before the presence of the Lord;
Lift up your hands to Him
For the life of your little ones
Who are faint because of hunger
At the head of every street.”

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

My eyes run down with streams of water
Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.

My eyes bring pain to my soul
Because of all the daughters of my city.

The tongue of the infant cleaves
To the roof of its mouth because of thirst;
The little ones ask for bread,
But no one breaks it for them.

The hands of compassionate women
Boiled their own children;
They became food for them
Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.

Because of the sins of her prophets
And the iniquities of her priests,
Who have shed in her midst
The blood of the righteous;

We get our bread at the risk of our lives
Because of the sword in the wilderness.

Our skin has become as hot as an oven,
Because of the burning heat of famine.

Because of this our heart is faint,
Because of these things our eyes are dim;

Because of Mount Zion which lies desolate,
Foxes prowl in it.