1 H ow the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion With a cloud in His anger! He cast down from heaven to the earth The beauty of Israel, And did not remember His footstool In the day of His anger.

How the Lord has covered Zion with a cloud in His anger! He has thrown the shining-greatness of Israel from heaven to earth. In the day of His anger He has not remembered the place where He rests His feet.

2 T he Lord has swallowed up and has not pitied All the dwelling places of Jacob. He has thrown down in His wrath The strongholds of the daughter of Judah; He has brought them down to the ground; He has profaned the kingdom and its princes.

The Lord has destroyed all the places of Jacob. In His anger He has broken down the strong-places of Judah. He has brought the nation and its leaders down to the ground in shame.

3 H e has cut off in fierce anger Every horn of Israel; He has drawn back His right hand From before the enemy. He has blazed against Jacob like a flaming fire Devouring all around.

In burning anger He has cut off all the strength of Israel. He would not help us fight against those who hate us. He has burned like a hot fire in Jacob, destroying everything around it.

4 S tanding like an enemy, He has bent His bow; With His right hand, like an adversary, He has slain all who were pleasing to His eye; On the tent of the daughter of Zion, He has poured out His fury like fire.

He has pulled back His bow string like one who fights against us. He has set His right hand like one who hates us, and has killed all that we liked to see. He has poured out His anger like fire on the tent of Zion.

5 T he Lord was like an enemy. He has swallowed up Israel, He has swallowed up all her palaces; He has destroyed her strongholds, And has increased mourning and lamentation In the daughter of Judah.

The Lord has become like one who hates us. He has destroyed Israel. He has destroyed all its beautiful houses. He has destroyed its strong-places, and has caused much sorrow and crying for the people of Judah.

6 H e has done violence to His tabernacle, As if it were a garden; He has destroyed His place of assembly; The Lord has caused The appointed feasts and Sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion. In His burning indignation He has spurned the king and the priest.

He has broken down His house like a garden tent. He has destroyed His chosen meeting place. The Lord has caused the special suppers and Day of Rest to be forgotten in Zion. And He has hated the king and the religious leader in His anger.

7 T he Lord has spurned His altar, He has abandoned 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 the Lord As on the day of a set feast.

The Lord has had nothing to do with His altar. He has left His holy place. He has given the walls of her beautiful houses over to those who hate us. They have made a noise in the house of the Lord as on the day of a special supper.

8 T he Lord has purposed to destroy The wall of the daughter of Zion. He has stretched out a line; He has not withdrawn His hand from destroying; Therefore He has caused the rampart and wall to lament; They languished together.

The Lord plans to destroy the wall of the people of Zion. He marked how long it was, and has not kept His hand from destroying. He has caused tower and wall to cry in sorrow. They suffer together.

9 H er gates have sunk into the ground; He has destroyed and broken her bars. Her king and her princes are among the nations; The Law is no more, And her prophets find no vision from the Lord.

Her gates have gone down into the ground. He has destroyed and broken her iron pieces. Her king and leaders have been sent among the nations. The Law is no more. And her men who spoke for God have no more special dreams from the Lord.

10 T he elders of the daughter of Zion Sit on the ground and keep silence; They throw dust on their heads And gird themselves with sackcloth. The virgins of Jerusalem Bow their heads to the ground.

The leaders of the people of Zion sit quietly on the ground. They have thrown dust on their heads, and have dressed themselves in cloth made from hair. The pure young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground.

11 M y eyes fail with tears, My heart is troubled; My bile is poured on the ground Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, Because the children and the infants Faint in the streets of the city.

My eyes become weak from crying. My spirit is very troubled. My heart is poured out in sorrow, because my people have been destroyed, and because children and babies fall down weak in the city streets.

12 T hey say to their mothers, “Where is grain and wine?” As they swoon like the wounded In the streets of the city, As their life is poured out In their mothers’ bosom.

They cry to their mothers, “Where is bread and wine?” as they fall down weak in the city streets like a man hurt in battle, and as they die in their mothers’ arms.

13 H ow shall I console you? To what shall I liken you, O daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I compare with you, that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For your ruin is spread wide as the sea; Who can heal you?

What can I say for you? What can I compare you with, O people of Jerusalem? What can I compare you with, that I may comfort you, O pure daughter of Zion? For you have been destroyed as much as the sea is large. And who can heal you?

14 Y our prophets have seen for you False and deceptive visions; They have not uncovered your iniquity, To bring back your captives, But have envisioned for you false prophecies and delusions.

Your men who speak in God’s name have given you false and foolish dreams. They have not made your sin known, so you could return from where you are held. But they have told you false dreams that have led you the wrong way.

15 A ll who pass by clap their hands at you; They hiss and shake their heads At the daughter of Jerusalem: “ Is this the city that is called ‘The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth’?”

All who pass by clap their hands at you. They make fun of you and shake their heads at the people of Jerusalem, saying, “Is this the city which was called perfect in beauty, the joy of all the earth?”

16 A ll your enemies have opened their mouth against you; They hiss and gnash their teeth. They say, “We have swallowed her up! Surely this is the day we have waited for; We have found it, we have seen it! ”

All who hate you have opened their mouths wide against you. They make fun of you and grind their teeth and say, “We have destroyed her! For sure this is the day we have waited for! We have lived to see it!”

17 T he Lord has done what He purposed; He has fulfilled His word Which He commanded in days of old. He has thrown down and has not pitied, And He has caused an enemy to rejoice over you; He has exalted the horn of your adversaries.

The Lord has done what He planned. He has done what He had said He would do long ago. He has destroyed without pity. He has caused those who hate you to have joy over you. He has given strength to those who fight against you.

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

Let your heart cry out to the Lord. O wall of the people of Zion, let your tears flow down like a river day and night. Give yourself no rest. Do not let your eyes stop crying.

19 “ Arise, cry out in the night, At the beginning of the watches; Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord. Lift your hands toward Him For the life of your young children, Who faint from hunger at the head of every street.”

Get up and cry out in the night, at the beginning of the night hours. Pour out your heart like water before the Lord. Lift up your hands to Him for the lives of your children who are weak with hunger on every street.”

20 “ See, O Lord, and consider! To whom have You done this? Should the women eat their offspring, The children they have cuddled? Should the priest and prophet be slain In the sanctuary of the Lord?

See, O Lord, and look! To whom have You done this? Should women eat their children, the little ones they have cared for? Should religious leaders and men of God be killed in the Lord’s holy place?

21 “ Young and old lie On the ground in the streets; My virgins and my young men Have fallen by the sword; You have slain them in the day of Your anger, You have slaughtered and not pitied.

The young and the old lie in the dust of the streets. My pure young women and young men have been killed by the sword. You have killed them in the day of Your anger. You have killed without pity.

22 “ You have invited as to a feast day The terrors that surround me. In the day of the Lord ’s anger There was no refugee or survivor. Those whom I have borne and brought up My enemies have destroyed.”

As people are asked to come to a special supper, You have sent trouble on every side. And no one got away or stayed alive in the day of the Lord’s anger. Those I have cared for and brought up have been destroyed by those who hate me.