LORD has cast off his altar. He has abhorred his sanctuary. He has given up the walls of her palaces into the hand of the enemy. They have made a noise in the house of LORD, as in the day of a solemn assembly.

LORD has purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion. He has stretched out the line. He has not withdrawn his hand from destroying. And he has made the rampart and wall to lament, they languish together.

The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground. They keep silence. They have cast up dust upon their heads. They have girded themselves with sackcloth. The virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.

They say to their mothers, Where is grain and wine? when they faint as the wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul is poured out into their mothers' bosom.

Thy prophets have seen FALSE and foolish visions for thee. And they have not uncovered thine iniquity, to bring back thy captivity, but have seen for thee FALSE oracles and causes of banishment.

All who pass by clap their hands at thee. They hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, [saying], Is this the city that men called The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth?

All thine enemies have opened their mouth wide against thee. They hiss and gnash the teeth. They say, We have swallowed her up. Certainly this is the day that we looked for. We have found, we have seen it.

They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness.

They have chased me grievously like a bird, those who are my enemies without cause.

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

The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how they are esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!

Even the jackals draw out the breast; they give suck to their young ones. The daughter of my people has become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.

Her ranking men were purer than snow. They were whiter than milk. They were more ruddy in body than rubies. Their polishing was as of sapphire.

Their visage is blacker than a coal. They are not known in the streets. Their skin clings to their bones. It is withered. It has become like a stick.

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

They wander as blind men in the streets. They are polluted with blood, so that men cannot touch their garments.

Depart ye, they cried to them. Unclean! Depart, depart, do not touch! When they fled away and wandered, men said among the nations, They shall no more sojourn [here].

The anger of LORD has scattered them. He will no more regard them. They did not respect the persons of the priests. They did not favor the elders.

They hunt our steps, so that we cannot go in our streets. Our end is near, our days are fulfilled, for our end has come.

Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the heavens. They chased us upon the mountains. They laid wait for us in the wilderness.

They ravished the women in Zion, the virgins in the cities of Judah.