1 

Ah, how lonely lies the city,

once so full of folk,

once a power among the nations,

like a poor widow!

she queened it over towns,

and is now a thrall!--

2 

sobbing sorely in the night,

tears upon her cheek;

of all her allies there is none

to aid her;

her friends have all betrayed her

and turned foes.

3 

To an exile of sad slavery

has Judah departed,'

to settle among pagans,

with no peace;

and in her anguish her pursuers

overtook her.

4 

The paths to Sion are woebegone,

bereft of pilgrims;

her gates are all deserted,

and her priests despair,

her maidens have been dragged away--

ah, bitter is her lot!

5 

Her foes have now the upper hand,

her enemies exult--

it is her punishment from the Eternal

for her many sins.

Foes force her children into exile

in front of them;

6 

from Sion all her splendour

has departed;

her leaders are like harts that find

no pasture,

the pursuer drives them feebly

in front of him.

7 

Jerusalem recalls

her stress and scattering,

when helpless her folk fell

into the foeman’s hand,

and the foe gazed gloating

on her downfall.

8 

Jerusalem, for her dire sins,

is flung aside;

all who honoured her despise her--

they have seen her naked shame;

she moans the while,

and turns her face away.

9 

Her filth clung to her skirts,

she was a fetid rag;

she never thought of what would follow,

and so her fall was tragic.

“How insolent is the foe, O thou Eternal!

See what I suffer!”

10 

The foe has laid his hands

on all her treasures;

she has seen pagans pushing

into her shrine,

men thou didst forbid to enter

thy community.

11 

All her folk are moaning

in the search for food,

bartering their treasures

for bare sustenance.

“Behold, O thou Eternal,

how I am abased!

12 

And you who pass by, look,

look all of you and see

if there is any agony like this

dealt out to me,

by the Eternal in his anger fierce

afflicting me.

13 

He sent a fever down

to waste my limbs;

he spread a net to catch my feet;

he thwarted me;

faint he left me and forlorn,

all day long.

14 

He singled out my sins,

then twisted them together,

and bound them as a yoke upon my neck,

till I am worn;

the Lord has consigned me to a foe

whom I cannot withstand.

15 

My Lord himself has flouted

all my heroes,

summoning a triumphant host

to shatter my warriors;

in the winepress the Lord has been trampling

upon Judah.

16 

For all this I weep,

tears stream from my eyes;

none beside me to relieve me,

none to revive me;

my children lie forlorn,

for the foe has prevailed.”

17 

Sion is stretching her hands out,

but none relieves her;

for the Eternal has ordered all around

to oppose Jacob,

and Jerusalem is but to them

a fetid rag.

18 

“The Eternal is right,

for I did rebel!

But listen, O peoples, all of you,

look at my agony;

my maidens and my youth

are in captivity.

19 

I called to my allies,

and they failed me;

in the city my priests and sheikhs

are dying of hunger,

searching for bare sustenance,

and searching all in vain.

20 

O thou Eternal, consider my anguish,

my soul is wretched,

my heart writhing,

and my vitals burn;

outside, the sword is slaying,

and inside, the plague.

21 

Listen to my moaning,

with none to relieve me.

My foes have all heard of my plight--

and they are glad of it,

glad thou hast punished me, as thou didst threaten,

for my sins.

22 

But let their evil hour arrive,

let them fare as I fare;

as thou hast done to me,

so do to them--

give them as many groans as mine,

a heart as sore!”

2 

How the Lord has shamed in c% his anger

maiden Sion,

hurling from heaven to earth

the splendour of Israel,

remembering not, on the day of his fury,

his Footstool!

2 

The Lord has ruined ruthlessly

the homesteads of Jacob,

lowering and levelling

the strongholds of Judah,

degrading in his wrath

her king and nobles.

3 

He has shattered in fierce anger

all the force of Israel,

withdrawing his right hand from them

as they faced the foe.

He has burned in Jacob like a fire,

devouring all around.

Like a foe he has bent his 4 bow,

and fitted his arrows;

he slaughters and kills the children,

the delight of our eyes,

in the tent of maiden Sion he pours out

like fire his fury.

5 

The Lord has become our enemy,

ruining Israel,

ruining all her citadels

and shattering her strongholds,

heaping upon maiden Sion

wails and woe.

6 

He has torn the fence down like a robber,

demolished his own shrine,

abolished within Sion

feast and sabbath,

spurned aside in indignation

king and priest alike.

7 

The Lord has discarded his own altar,

scorned his sanctuary,

and let the foe lay hands upon

the ark of the compact.

What shouts they raised in the Eternal’s house,

as in an orgy!

8 

The Eternal was determined to destroy

the walls of maiden Sion;

he planned it all,

his hand was in the havoc;

rampart and wall--he made them all

lament and totter.

9 

Her gates have sunk to the ground,

her bars are broken.

Her king and nobles are exiled;

there is no law;

her very prophets are without

a vision from the Eternal;

10 

they sit in silence on the ground,

the sheikhs of maiden Sion;

and, with dust flung on their heads,

with sackcloth round their loins,

with head bowed to the ground,

there sit the maids of Jerusalem!

11 

My eyes are worn with tears,

my soul is wretched,

my heart is melting

for the wreck of my people,

for babies and infants swooning

in the city-streets,

12 

crying to their mothers

for their food,

swooning like men wounded

in the city-streets,

gasping out their lives

in their mothers’ bosom.

13 

To what can I compare you,

dear Jerusalem?

To what can I liken you, for your comfort,

O maiden Sion?

Your wreck is vast as the ocean;

who can repair you?

14 

Your prophets? ah, their dreams for you

were false and flattering;

they never made you see your sin,

to save you from captivity--

all the dreams they had for you

deceived you and misled you.

15 

Now all who pass

clap their hands over you,

hissing and tossing their heads

over maiden Jerusalem;

“So this is the peerless Beauty,

the Joy of all the earth?”

16 

Your foes, they are all yelling

against you,

hissing with clenched teeth,

“We have done for her!

This is the day we longed for!

It has come, we see it at last!”

17 

The Eternal has done as he planned,

has carried out his word,

as he fixed long ago;

he wrecks you ruthlessly,

makes foemen rejoice over you,

and swells their forces.

18 

Cry aloud to the Lord,

O maiden Sion!

let your tears stream down

by day and night,

give yourself no respite,

give your eyes no rest.

19 

Rise and cry in the night,

as the night-watches come round,

pour out your heart like water

before the Lord,

lift hands of prayer

to him over what he has done to you:

20 

“Consider, O Eternal,

whom thou art handling thus!

Are women to eat their children,

the babes they have fondled?

Are priests and prophets to be murdered

in thy sanctuary?

21 

All over the street they lie,

both young and old,

my maidens and my youth

killed without quarter,

slain by thee, on thy day of anger,

slaughtered without pity;

22 

thou hast summoned the terrors of war all around

to a triumph,

till all whom I nursed and nurtured

the foe has destroyed;

not a soul escaped, not one survived,

on the day of thine anger.”

3 

I am the man who has suffered

under the rod of his anger;

2 

I am the man he has been leading

on a dark, unlighted road;

3 

he has baffled me over and again,

all the day long;

4 

he has worn away my skin and flesh,

and broken my bones;

5 

he has piled troubles up against me,

right round my head;

6 

he has made me dwell in the dark,

like men long dead;

7 

he has walled me round, till I cannot go out,

he has loaded me with chains;

8 

and when I fain would cry for help,

he stops my prayer;

9 

he blocks my way with boulders,

till my course is twisted;

10 

he lurks for me like a bear,

like a lion in ambush;

11 

he has chased me, mangled me

and left me all forlorn;

12 

he has bent his bow and made me

a target for his arrows;

13 

he has driven his shafts home,

right into me;

14 

I am the butt of all nations,

the burden of their satire all day long.

15 

He has filled me up with bitter herbs,

and sated me with wormwood;

16 

he has broken my teeth with gravel,

and covered me with ashes.

17 

He has bereft me of all bliss,

I forget what it is to prosper;

18 

I said, “My strength is gone,

and my hope in the Eternal!”

19 

The thought of my stress and scattering

is bitterness, bitter to me;

20 

my soul is always thinking of it,

and is crushed within me.

21 

But I will call to mind,

to give me hope,

22 

that the Eternal’s love is lasting,

and will never fail.

23 

“Fresh every morning is thy kindness,

great is thy faithfulness!”

24 

The Eternal is my allotted share, I say;

therefore I will hope in him.

25 

The Eternal is good to those who wait for him,

to a soul that seeks him.

26 

It is good to wait in silence

for the help of the Eternal;

27 

it is good to bear without a word

the rebuke of the Eternal;

28 

let a man sit alone in silence,

since it is the Eternal’s hand;

29 

let him lay his lips to the dust--

there may be hope for him;

30 

let him offer his cheek to the striker,

and suffer all man’s taunts.

31 

For the Lord will not always discard life;

32 

he wounds, but he has pity,

so rich is his love;

33 

he is loth to pain or grieve

the sons of men.

34 

When a whole people is taken prisoner

and downtrodden,

35 

when a man is deprived of his rights,

under the eyes of the Most High,

36 

when a man does not get justice--

does the Lord not see it?

37 

Who can carry out his will,

unless it is the Lord’s order?

38 

Are not weal and woe alike

decreed by the Most High?

39 

Then why should mortal men complain,

when they are punished for their sins?

40 

Let us scan and search our lives,

let us return to the Eternal,

41 

lifting our hearts up with our hands

to God in heaven;

42 

“The sin is ours, we have rebelled,

and thou--thou hast not pardoned;

43 

thou hast veiled thy face in anger,

pursuing us without pity;

44 

thou hast covered thyself with a cloud

no prayer can pierce;

45 

thou hast made us mere scum and refuse

in the world;

46 

our foes, they are all yelling against us;

47 

dismay and destruction befall us,

ravage and ruin.”

48 

Tears are flooding from my eyes

for the ruin of my people;

51 

my eyes are sore with sorrow

for all the woes of my city;

49 

my eyes stream without ceasing,

without rest,

50 

till the Eternal will look down

from heaven above.

52 

They have chased me like a bird,

with no reason for their hate;

53 

they dropped me to die in a dungeon,

flinging stones at me;

54 

waters flowed over my head,

“I am lost,” I said.

55 

From the depth of the dungeon I called,

O Eternal, to thee; 56 thou didst hear me crying,

“Give ear to my plea”;

57 

thou camest at my call,

bidding me, “Fear not.”

58 

O Lord, thou didst take my part

and save my life.

59 

And now thou seest my wrongs;

oh vindicate me!

60 

Thou hast seen all the revenge

they plotted against me,

61 

hast heard all the insults

they plotted against me,

62 

the talk of the men who attack me,

their muttering all day long.

63 

Look at them, sitting or rising--

I am the burden of their satire!

64 

Thou wilt requite them, O Eternal,

for what they have done;

65 

thou wilt blind their vision--

thy curse be upon them!--

66 

thou wilt chase them angrily,

and crush them out of life.

4 

Ah! how the gold is dimmed,

the gold so pure!

the sacred gems are scattered

over every street;

2 

the priceless sons of Sion,

worth their weight in gold,

count no more than crockery,

mere pots of clay!

3 

Even jackals give the breast,

their whelps they suckle;

but cruel are the women of my people

as the ostrich wild;

4 

for the tongue of the nursling cleaves for thirst

to the roof of its mouth,

the children beg for food,

and no one gives it.

5 

Those who fared on dainties

rot upon the street;

those who lay on scarlet rugs

huddle on an ash-heap.

6 

The guilt of my people was greater

than even the sin of Sodom--

Sodom that fell in a flash,

ere any could wring his hands.

7 

Her headmen were brighter than snow,

and whiter than milk,

ruddier than rubies,

their bodies veined like sapphires;

8 

and now they look more darksome than the night--

none knows them as they pass--

their skin drawn tight over the bone,

dry as a stick.

9 

Better to die by the sword

than by starving,

stabbed to death by hunger

suddenly in the field!

10 

The hands of tender women

have sodden their own children--

making that their food,

amid the wreck.

11 

The Eternal has carried out his fury,

venting his hot anger;

he has lit a fire in Sion

that burns her to the base.

12 

None could believe, no king,

no man in all the world,

that foe or enemy could ever enter

inside Jerusalem.

13 

It was all for the sin of her prophets,

for the crime of her priests,

who shed in her

the blood of the just.

14 

Now, stained with blood, they wander

blindly about the streets,

brushing against men

they once avoided.

15 

Men shout to them, “Begone! you are unclean!

begone! avoid us!”

So they stagger and wander abroad,

finding no shelter; 16 the Eternal himself has scattered them,

caring nothing for them,

regardless of the priests,

and heedless of the prophets.

17 

Our eyes are strained and failing,

as we look for aid unavailing;

we are watching for a nation

that has never brought salvation.

18 

Foes dog our steps,

we dare not walk abroad;

our days are numbered and over,

for our end has come.

19 

More swift were our pursuers

than eagles of the air,

hunting us over the hills,

ambushing us on the wolds;

20 

they trapped the king, the Eternal’s choice,

the very breath of our lives,

of whom we said, “Under his reign

we shall hold out, among the nations!”

21 

Rejoice and be glad in your home-land,

O maiden Edom!

But the cup will come round to you,

and leave you drunk and dishevelled.

22 

Sion, your guilt is over and gone--

no more exile for you!

But, Edom, your guilt shall be punished,

your sins laid bare!

5 

Consider our plight, O Eternal,

ah, look at our disgrace--

2 

our heritage handed to foreigners,

our homes to aliens;

3 

fatherless orphans are we,

our mothers are like widows;

4 

we must buy our own water,

our wood has to be paid for;

6 

we surrendered to the foe,

thinking to get food enough;

5 

but they have borne hard on us,

we toil and get no rest.

7 

Our fathers sinned; they are no more,

but we must bear their guilt.

8 

Slaves now lord it over us,

with none to rescue us;

9 

we get in our corn at the risk of our lives

from Arabs of the desert;

10 

our skin glows like an oven,

with the fever heat of famine.

11 

Women are ravished in Sion,

and girls in the towns of Judah;

12 

nobles hung up by the hand,

and sheikhs outraged.

13 

Nobles stoop to grind at the mill,

lords stagger with loads of logs;

14 

no sheikhs now sit at the city-gates,

no young men at their music!

15 

Gone all that gave our hearts delight,

our dancing turned to mourning;

16 

the crown has fallen from our head!

Ah, woe to us, for we have sinned!

17 

And this makes our heart faint,

and this makes our eyes dim,

18 

that Sion hill lies desolate,

with jackals roaming over it.

19 

Thou art enthroned for ever, O Eternal,

reigning from age to age.

20 

Why wilt thou never remember us,

forsaking us all these years?

21 

Restore us, O Eternal, let us return;

renew our days as of yore--

22 

unless thou hast utterly discarded us

in anger all too sore!