1How the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger! He has thrown down Israel's glory from heaven to earth and has not remembered his footstool on the day of his anger.
2The Lord has destroyed all of Jacob's homes without pity. In his anger, he has torn down the strongholds of the daughter of Judah. He has brought them to the ground; he has disgraced the kingdom and its leaders.
3In fierce anger, he has cut off all of Israel's strength. He has pulled back his right hand from attacking the enemy. He has burned up Jacob like a raging fire that consumes everything around it.
4He has aimed his bow like an enemy and stood with his right hand as an adversary. He has killed everyone who was pleasant to see. In the camp of the daughter of Zion, he has poured out his wrath like fire.
5The Lord has become an enemy; he has destroyed Israel. He has destroyed all her palaces and torn down her fortresses. He has increased mourning and wailing in the daughter of Judah.
6He has forcefully removed his temple as if it were a garden; he has destroyed his place of worship. Yahweh has made the special assemblies and Sabbaths in Zion forgotten. In his furious anger, he has scorned kings and priests.
7The Lord has abandoned his altar; he has hated his holy place. He has given her palace walls into the enemy's hand. They made noise in Yahweh’s house as if on a special assembly day.
8Yahweh planned to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion. He measured it out; he did not stop destroying. He made the ramparts and walls mourn; they are all weak together.
9The city gates have sunk into the ground; he has destroyed and broken their bars. Her king and her leaders are among nations where there is no law. Her prophets receive no visions from Yahweh.
10The elders of Jerusalem sit on the ground in silence. They have thrown dust on their heads and dressed themselves in sackcloth. The young women of Jerusalem hang their heads to the ground.
11My eyes are weak from crying, my heart is troubled. My inner being is drained onto the earth because of the destruction of my people. This is because the young children and babies are fainting in the city streets.
12They ask their mothers, “Where is grain and wine?” as they faint like wounded people in the city streets. They pour out their lives in their mothers’ arms.
13What can I tell you? What can I compare you to, Jerusalem? What can I put next to you, so I can comfort you, young women of Jerusalem? Your wound is as wide as the sea, who can heal you?
14Your prophets have shown you false and foolish visions. They haven't exposed your sin to bring you back from captivity, but instead have shown you false prophecies that led to your exile.
15Everyone who passes by claps their hands at you. They hiss and shake their heads at Jerusalem, asking, “Is this the city people called ‘The most beautiful of all, the joy of the whole world’?”
16All your enemies have verbally attacked you. They hiss and grind their teeth, saying, “We have completely destroyed her. This is definitely the day we’ve been waiting for. We found it. We saw it happen.”
17Yahweh has done what he planned; he has fulfilled the promise he made in ancient times. He has torn down without pity. He has allowed your enemy to celebrate over you; he has made your adversaries powerful.
18Their hearts cried out to the Lord: 'Wall of Jerusalem, let tears flow like a river day and night. Don't rest; don’t stop crying.'
19Get up, cry out in the night, at the start of each watch. Pour out your heart like water before the Lord. Lift your hands to him for the lives of your young children, who are fainting from hunger at every street corner.
20“Look, Yahweh, and see to whom you have done this! Should women eat their own children, the babies they hold in their hands? Should priests and prophets be killed in the Lord’s sanctuary?
21“Young and old lie on the ground in the streets. My virgins and young men have been killed by the sword. You killed them on the day of your anger. You slaughtered without pity.
22“You have called, as if for a special assembly, my terrors all around me. No one escaped or survived on the day of Yahweh’s anger. My enemy consumed those I cared for and raised.”