How Lonely Lies the City!

(2 Kings 24:10–17)

How[fn] lonely lies the city,

once so full of people!

She who was great among the nations

has become a widow.

The princess of the provinces

has become a slave.

2 

She weeps aloud in the night,

with tears upon her cheeks.

Among all her lovers

there is no one to comfort [her].

All her friends have betrayed her;

they have become her enemies.

3 

Judah has gone into exile

under affliction and harsh slavery;

she dwells among the nations

but finds no place to rest.

All her pursuers have overtaken her

in the midst of her distress.

4 

The roads to Zion mourn,

because no one comes to her appointed feasts.

All her gates are deserted;

her priests groan,

her maidens grieve,

and she herself is bitter with anguish

5 

Her foes have become her masters;

her enemies are at ease.

For the LORD has brought her grief

because of her many transgressions.

Her children have gone away

as captives before the enemy.

6 

All the splendor has departed

from the Daughter of Zion.

Her princes are like deer

that find no pasture;

they lack the strength to flee

in the face of the hunter.

7 

In the days of her affliction and wandering

Jerusalem remembers all the treasures

that were hers in days of old.

When her people fell into enemy hands

she received no help

Her enemies looked upon her,

laughing at her downfall.

8 

Jerusalem has sinned greatly

therefore she has become an object of scorn.

All who honored her now despise her,

for they have seen her nakedness

she herself groans and turns away.

9 

Her uncleanness stains her skirts;

she did not consider her end.

Her downfall was astounding;

there was no one to comfort her.

Look, O LORD, on my affliction,

for the enemy has triumphed!

10 

The adversary has seized

all her treasures.

For she has seen the nations

enter her sanctuary—

those You had forbidden

to enter Your assembly

11 

All her people groan

as they search for bread.

They have traded their treasures for food

to keep themselves alive

Look, O LORD, and consider,

for I have become despised.

12 

Is this nothing to you, all you who pass by?

Look around and see!

Is there any sorrow like mine,

which was inflicted on me,

which the LORD made me suffer

on the day of His fierce anger?

13 

He sent fire from on high,

and it overpowered my bones.

He spread a net for my feet

and turned me back.

He made me desolate,

faint all the day long.

14 

My transgressions are bound into a yoke,[fn]

knit together by His hand;

they are draped over my neck,

and the Lord has broken my strength.

He has delivered me into the hands

of those I cannot withstand.

15 

The Lord has rejected

all the mighty men in my midst;

He has summoned an army against me[fn]

to crush my young warriors.

Like grapes in a winepress,

the Lord has trampled the Virgin Daughter of Judah.

16 

For these things I weep;

my eyes flow with tears.

For there is no one nearby to comfort me,

no one to revive my soul.

My children are destitute

because the enemy has prevailed.

17 

Zion stretches out her hands,

but there is no one to comfort her.

The LORD has decreed against Jacob

that his neighbors become his foes.

Jerusalem has become

an unclean thing among them.

18 

The LORD is righteous

yet I rebelled against His command.

Listen, all you people

look upon my suffering.

My young men and maidens

have gone into captivity.

19 

I called out to my lovers,

but they have betrayed me.

My priests and elders

perished in the city

while they searched for food

to keep themselves alive.

20 

See, O LORD, how distressed I [am]!

I am churning within;

my heart is pounding within me,

for I have been most rebellious

Outside, the sword bereaves;

inside, there is death.

21 

People have heard my groaning,

but there is no one to comfort me.

All my enemies have heard of my trouble;

they are glad that You have caused it.

May You bring the day You have announced,

so that they may become like me.

22 

Let all their wickedness come before You,

and deal with them

as You have dealt with me

because of all my transgressions.

For my groans are many,

and my heart is faint.