How is seated alone, the city that abounded with people, hath become as a widow, - She who abounded among the nations was a princess among provinces, hath come under tribute.

(Gimel) Judah has departed into exile under affliction and harsh oppression. She lives among the nations; she has found no resting place. All who pursued her overtook her in narrow straits.

Those who are against her have become the head, everything goes well for her haters; for the Lord has sent sorrow on her because of the great number of her sins: her young children have gone away as prisoners before the attacker.

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.

His hand, hath the adversary spread out, over all her precious things, - for she saw that, the nations, entered her sanctuary, as to whom thou didst command they should not enter - in the convocation - unto thee!

Is it nothing to you, {all who pass by}? Look and see if there is sorrow like my sorrow, which was dealt to me, which Yahweh inflicted on the {day of his wrath}.

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 things, am, I, weeping, Mine eye, mine eye, is running down with waters, for, far from me, is any who could comfort, could bring back my life, - My sons are amazed, for strong is the foe.

Zion, hath spread forth, her hands, there is none to comfort her, Yahweh, hath given command, respecting Jacob, unto them who surround him - his adversaries, - Jerusalem, hath become as a removed woman, in their midst.

He hath trodden his bow like a foe, his right hand erect as an adversary, and hath slain all them who delighted the eye, - In the home of the daughter of Zion, hath he poured out, as fire, his indignation.

My eyes are wasted with weeping, the inmost parts of my body are deeply moved, my inner parts are drained out on the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people; because of the young children and babies at the breast who are falling without strength in the open squares of the town.

How shall I solemnly admonish thee? What shall I liken to thee, thou daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I compare with thee, that I may comfort thee, thou virgin, daughter of Zion? for, great as the sea, is thy grievous injury, Who can heal thee?

They clap hands over you, all who pass along the way; they hiss and they shake their head, at the daughter of Jerusalem. Is this the city of which it is said, "A perfection of beauty, a joy for all the earth?"

The Lord has done that which was his purpose; he has put into force the orders which he gave in the days which are past; pulling down without pity, he has made your hater glad over you, lifting up the horn of those who were against you.

Arise, cry out in the night, At the beginning of the watches, pour out, like waters, thy heart, right before the face of My Lord, - Lift up, above thee, the palms of thy hands, for the life of thy children, who are swooning for hunger, at the top of all the streets!

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?

{Shin} Young and old lie behind the streets, upon the ground; my maidens and young men are slain with the sword: whom thou in the day of thy wrathful indignation hast put to death. Yea, even thou hast put them to death, and not spared them.

Wilt thou proclaim, like the day of an appointed meeting - My terrors round about? when there was not - in the day of the anger of Yahweh - fugitive or survivor, - Those whom I dandled and reared, my foe hath destroyed.

I am a man who has seen misery, under the rod of his wrath.

He has kept me in dark places, like those who have been long dead.

Good is Yahweh, to them who wait for him, to the soul that will seek him;

[It is] good for a man who carries the yoke of his childhood.

Let his face be turned to him who gives him blows; let him be full of shame.

Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?

Why should any living mortal, or any man,
Complain [of punishment] in view of his sins?

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

The lips of those who came up against me, and their thoughts against me all the day.

The precious sons of Zion, they who were weighed against pure gold, How are they accounted as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!

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

Those who have been put to the sword are better off than those whose death is caused by need of food; for these come to death slowly, burned up like the fruit of the field.

(Yod) The hands of tenderhearted women cooked their own children, who became their food, when my people were destroyed.

It is for the sins of her prophets, the iniquities of her priests, - who have been pouring out, in her midst, the blood of the righteous!

Those who went after us were quicker than the eagles of the heaven, driving us before them on the mountains, waiting secretly for us in the waste land.

The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the LORD, was taken in their pits, of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the heathen.

Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, you who dwell in the land of Uz; but to you also the cup will pass, you will become drunk and strip yourself bare.

Our heritage is given up to men of strange lands, our houses to those who are not our countrymen.

Our fathers sinned, and are no more;
It is we who have borne their iniquities.

We get our bread at the risk of our lives
Because of the sword [of the Arabs] in the wilderness [who may attack if we go out to harvest the crop].