The sorrows of the people of Jerusalem

1 Jerusalem was once full of people,

but now it is deserted.

Once it was honored by people all over the world,

but now it is grieving/abandoned like [SIM] a widow.

Once it was honored like [MET] a princess is honored among the nations,

but now we who live here have become slaves.

2 We [PRS] weep bitterly all night long,

with tears flowing down our cheeks.

Among the people in all the nations that loved Jerusalem

there are none that comfort us now.

All the rulers of those nations that were previously our allies have betrayed us,

and they are all now enemies of the people of Jerusalem.

3 The people of Judah have been ◄exiled/forced to go to other countries►

and caused to suffer greatly as slaves.

They live in other nations

where they do not have peace/safety.

Their enemies seized them,

and there was no way for them to escape.

4 The roads to Zion Hill are empty [PRS]

because no one comes here to celebrate the sacred festivals.

The city gates are deserted,

and the priests groan.

The young women of Jerusalem cry

because they are suffering greatly.

5 Our enemies have conquered the city,

and now they prosper.

Yahweh has punished the people of Jerusalem

because of all the sins that they have committed.

The children of Jerusalem have been captured

and taken to other countries.

6 Jerusalem was a beautiful city,

but it is not beautiful now.

The leaders of the city are like [SIM] deer that are starving

because of being unable to find any grass to eat.

They are very weak,

with the result that they are unable to run from their enemies.

7 The people of Jerusalem are sad and scattered,

and they think about the previous greatness of the city.

But now our enemies have captured the city,

and there is no one to help the people.

Our enemies destroyed the city

and laughed while they were doing that.

8 The people of [PRS] Jerusalem have sinned very much;

it is as though [MET] the city has become like a filthy rag.

All those who previously honored the city now despise it,

because they see that it has become very disgraced [MET].

Now the people of the city groan,

and they cover their faces because they are very ashamed.

9 The city has become filthy because of [PRS] the sins that the people have committed;

they did not think about what could happen to the city.

Now the city has been destroyed,

and there is no one to comfort the people.

The people cry out saying, “Yahweh, look at how we are suffering

because our enemies have defeated us!”

10 Our enemies have taken away all our treasures,

all the valuable things that we owned.

We have seen soldiers from other nations, men who do not worship Yahweh, enter our sacred temple,

the place where foreigners/non-Israelis were ◄forbidden/not allowed► to enter.

11 The people of the city groan

while they search for food;

they have given their treasures

to get food to eat to remain alive.

They say, “Yahweh, look at us,

and see that we are despised!”

12 You people who pass by,

you do not [RHQ] seem to care at all about what has happened to us.

Look around and see

that there are no other [RHQ] people who are suffering like we are.

Yahweh has caused us to suffer

because he was extremely angry with us.

13 It is as though he sent a fire from heaven [MTY]

that burned in our bones;

it is as though [MET] he has placed a trap for our feet,

and has prevented us from walking any further.

He has abandoned us;

we are weak/miserable every day, all day long.

14 He caused the sins that we have committed to be like a heavy load for us to carry;

it is as though [MET] he tied them around our necks.

Previously we were strong,

but he has caused us to become weak.

He has allowed our enemies to capture us,

and we were not able to do anything to resist them.

15 Yahweh looked at our mighty soldiers

and laughed at them.

He has summoned a great army

to come and crush our young soldiers.

It is as though [MET] Yahweh has trampled on us people of Judah

like [SIM] people trample on grapes in a pit to make wine.

16 I weep because of all those things;

my eyes are filled with tears.

There is no one to comfort me;

those who could encourage me are far away.

Our enemies have conquered us,

so our children have nothing good to ◄hope for/expect to happen►.

17 We people of [PRS] Jerusalem reach out our hands to get help,

but there is no one to comfort us.

Yahweh has decided concerning us descendants of Jacob

that the people in nearby nations will become our enemies;

so they consider that

Jerusalem has become like [MET] a filthy rag.

18 But what Yahweh has done to us is fair,

because we have rebelled against obeying the commands that he gave us.

You people everywhere, listen to us;

look and see that we are suffering greatly.

We had many sons and daughters,

but they have been captured and forced to go to distant countries.

19 We pleaded with our allies to help us,

but they all refused.

Our priests and our leaders

have died from hunger in the city

while they were searching for food

to eat to remain alive.

20 Yahweh, see that we are suffering very much.

It is as though our inner beings are tormented.

We are sad [SYN]

because we have rebelled against you.

Our enemies kill people in the streets with their swords;

people are dying because they have no food to eat.

21 People have heard us while we groaned,

but no one came to comfort us.

Yahweh, you caused us to experience this disaster,

and our enemies are happy to see what you have done to us.

But cause it soon to be the time that you have promised,

when our enemies will suffer like we have suffered!

22 Yahweh, see all the evil things that they have done

and punish them!

Punish them like you have punished us

for all the sins that we committed!

We say this to you because we suffer and groan very much,

and we ◄faint/are very sad►.

Yahweh punished Jerusalem

2 Yahweh was extremely angry with us;

as a result, it was as though [MET] he covered Jerusalem with a dark cloud.

Previously it was a beautiful/glorious city,

but he has caused it to become a ruins.

At the time he punished [MET] Israel,

he even abandoned his temple [MET] in Jerusalem.

2 Yahweh destroyed the homes of the people of [PRS] Judah;

he did not act mercifully.

Because he was very angry,

he broke down the fortresses of Judah.

He has caused our kingdom and our rulers to become disgraced,

and he has gotten rid of them.

3 Because he was extremely angry,

he has caused Israel to not be powerful [MET] any more.

He has refused to assist us

when our enemies attacked us.

He has destroyed Israel

like [SIM] a raging fire destroys everything.

4 He bent his bow to prepare to shoot us, his people,

as though we were his enemies.

He prepared to kill the people whom we love the most [MET],

members of our own families.

He is extremely angry [MTY] with us people of Jerusalem;

his anger is like [SIM] a fire.

5 Yahweh has become like an enemy

to us Israelis;

he has destroyed our palaces

and caused our fortresses to become ruins.

He has gotten rid of many people in Jerusalem,

and caused us to mourn and weep for those who were killed.

6 He has caused his temple to be smashed

as easily as [SIM] if it was a shelter in a garden.

He has caused us, his people, to forget

all our sacred festivals and Sabbath days.

He has caused our kings and priests to be rejected

because he was extremely angry with them.

7 Yahweh has rejected his own altar

and abandoned his temple.

He has allowed our enemies to tear down the walls

of our temple and our palaces.

They shout victoriously in the temple of Yahweh,

like we previously shouted during our sacred festivals.

8 Yahweh was determined

to cause the walls of our city [MTY] to be torn down.

It was as though he measured the walls

and then he completely destroyed [MTY] them.

It was as though he caused the towers and walls to lament/weep,

because they were now ruins.

9 The city gates have collapsed;

the bars that fastened the gates shut have been smashed.

The king and his officials have been forced to go to other countries.

No longer does anyone teach the people the laws that God gave to Moses.

The prophets do not receive any visions

because Yahweh does not give them any.

10 The old men of Jerusalem [MTY] sit on the ground,

and they say nothing.

They wear rough sackcloth

and throw dust on their heads to show that they are sad.

The young girls of Jerusalem bow down sorrowfully,

their faces touching the ground.

11 My eyes are very tired because of my tears;

I am very grieved in my soul.

Because very many of my people have been killed,

I grieve and am exhausted.

Even children and babies are fainting

and dying in the streets because they have no food.

12 They cry out to their mothers,

“We need [RHQ] something to eat and drink!”

They faint like wounded men

in the streets of the city.

They slowly die

in the arms of their mothers.

13 You people of Jerusalem [MTY, DOU],

◄what can I/there is nothing that I can► say to help you.

No people have [RHQ] suffered like you are suffering;

I do not know what I can do to comfort you.

The disaster [MET] that you have experienced is as great

as the ocean is deep;

there is no one [RHQ] who can restore your city.

14 The prophets among you claimed that they had seen visions from Yahweh,

but what they said was false and worthless.

They did not save you from being ◄exiled/forced to go to other countries►,

because they did not proclaim that you had sinned.

Instead, the messages that they gave you deceived you

because they were not true.

15 All those who pass by you

make fun of [IDM] you;

they shake their heads

and they hiss/sneer at you.

They say, “Is this that great city of Jerusalem?

Is it the city that was the most beautiful city in the world,

the city that caused all the people on the earth to be joyful?”

16 Now all our enemies scoff [IDM] at you;

they hiss/sneer at you and gnash their teeth to show that they hate you.

They say, “We have destroyed them!

This is what we longed/waited for,

and now it has happened!”

17 Yahweh has done what he planned;

long ago he threatened to destroy you,

and now he has done it.

He has destroyed your city without acting mercifully toward you;

he has enabled your enemies to he happy about defeating you;

he has enabled your enemies to continually become stronger.

18 I wish/desire that the walls of Jerusalem [APO]

would cry out to Yahweh!

You people of Jerusalem [MET],

Cry day and night!

Let your tears flow like rivers.

Do not stop grieving;

do not stop crying.

19 Get up every night and cry out;

tell Yahweh what you are feeling.

Raise your arms to plead to him

to act mercifully to prevent our children from dying;

they are fainting on the street corners

because they have no food to eat.

20 Yahweh, look, and think about it!

Have you ever [RHQ] caused people to suffer like this before?

It is certainly not right that [RHQ] women are eating the flesh of their own children,

the children whom they have always taken care of!

It is not right that [RHQ] priests and prophets are being killed

in your own temple!

21 The corpses of people of all ages lie in the streets;

there are even corpses of young men and young women who have been killed by our enemies’ swords.

Because you were very angry,

you caused them to be killed;

you have slaughtered them

without pitying them at all.

22 You summoned our enemies to attack us from every direction,

as though you were calling/inviting them to come to a feast.

At that time when you showed that you were very angry,

no one escaped.

Our enemies murdered our little children,

ones whom we took care of and reared/brought up.

Hope in the midst of distress

3 I , the one who am writing this, am a man who has been afflicted/punished [MTY] by Yahweh

because he was angry.

2 It was as though he caused me to walk in a very dark place

without any light at all.

3 He has punished [IDM] me many times,

all day, every day.

4 He has caused my skin and my flesh to become old.

He has broken my bones.

5 He has surrounded me [DOU]

with bitterness and suffering.

6 It is as though he has buried me in a dark place

like [SIM] the graves of those who have been dead for a long time.

7 It is as though [MET] he has built a wall around me,

and fastened/tied me with heavy chains,

and I cannot escape.

8 Although I call out and cry out for him to help me,

he does not pay attention to my prayers.

9 It is as though he has blocked my path with a high stone wall

and has caused my path to become crooked.

10 He has waited to attack me

like [SIM] a bear or a lion hides and waits to attack other animals.

11 It is as though he has dragged me off the path and ◄mauled me/torn me into pieces►,

and left me without help.

12 It is as though [MET] he bent his bow and caused me to become the target

at which he shot his arrows.

13 It is as though he shot his arrows deep into my body.

14 All my relatives laugh at me;

all day, every day they sing songs that make fun of me.

15 He has filled me with ◄bitterness/great suffering►,

like [MET] someone who drinks a very bitter liquid suffers.

16 It is as though he has caused me to chew gravel that broke my teeth,

and he has trampled me in the dirt.

17 Things no longer go well for me;

I no longer remember being prosperous.

18 I continued to say to myself, “I no longer expect to live much longer;

I no longer confidently expect to receive good things from Yahweh!”

19 When I think about my suffering and my wandering away from home,

it is like drinking a very bitter [DOU] liquid.

20 I will never forget this time

when I feel very depressed/discouraged [IDM].

21 However, I confidently expect Yahweh to do good things for me again

when I think about this:

22 Yahweh never stops faithfully loving us,

and he never stops being kind to us.

23 He is the one whom we can always trust/lean on.

Every morning he is merciful to us again.

24 So I say to myself, “Yahweh is all that I need;

so I will confidently wait for him to do good things for me.”

25 Yahweh is good to all those who depend on him,

to those who seek his help.

26 So it is good for us to wait quietly

for Yahweh to save/rescue us.

27 And it is good for us to patiently endure suffering

while we are young.

28 Those who seek his help should sit by themselves, silently,

knowing that it is Yahweh who has allowed/caused them to suffer.

29 They should lie in the dirt, with their faces on the ground,

because they can still hope that Yahweh will help them.

30 If someone strikes us on one cheek,

we should turn the other cheek toward that person in order that he may strike it, too,

and accept/endure it when we are insulted.

31 Yahweh does not abandon us his people forever.

32 Sometimes he causes us to suffer,

but sometimes he is kind to us

because he continually and faithfully loves us.

33 And he is not happy about causing human beings to suffer

or to be sad.

34 If people ◄mistreat all the prisoners/crush all the prisoners under their feet►

35 or if they rebel against God

by refusing to give to people the things that it is right for them to receive,

36 or if they cause judges to decide matters unjustly,

◄does Yahweh not see all those things?/Yahweh certainly sees all those things!► [RHQ]

37 No one can [RHQ] command something to happen and then cause it to happen

if Yahweh has not already decided that it should happen.

38 God in heaven [MTY] is [RHQ] the one who causes disasters to happen,

and he also causes good things to happen.

39 So it is certainly not [RHQ] right for us, who are only humans, to complain

when he punishes us for the sins that we have committed.

40 Instead, we should ◄examine/think carefully about► our behavior;

we should turn back to Yahweh.

41 We should pray [IDM] sincerely and lift up our arms

toward God in heaven, and say,

42 “We have sinned and rebelled against you,

and you have not forgiven us.

43 You have surrounded us with your anger and pursued us;

you have slaughtered us without pitying us.

44 You have hidden yourself in a cloud,

with the result that you do not hear us when we pray.

45 You have caused the people of other nations to consider us

to be only garbage [DOU].

46 All our enemies have insulted us.

47 We are constantly afraid [DOU],

because we have experienced disasters and ruin [DOU].”

48 I cry a lot

because my people have been destroyed.

49 My tears continually flow;

they will not stop

50 until Yahweh looks down from heaven and sees us.

51 I am very grieved

because of what has happened to the women of my city.

52 Those who are my enemies hunted for me

like [SIM] people hunt for a bird to kill it

even though there was no reason for them to do that.

53 They threw me into a pit to kill me,

and they threw stones on top of me.

54 The water in the pit rose above my head,

and I said to myself, “I am about to die/drown!”

55 But from the bottom of the pit I cried out to you [MTY],

“Yahweh, help me!”

56 I pleaded with you,

“Do not refuse to heed [MTY] me while I cry out to you!”

57 Then you answered me

and said, “Do not be afraid!”

58 Yahweh, you defended me;

you did not allow me to die.

59 Now, Yahweh, you have seen the evil things that my enemies have done to me,

so decide my case and show that I am right!

60 You know the evil things

that they have planned to do to me.

61 Yahweh, you have heard them insult me

and what they have planned to do to me.

62 Every day they whisper and mutter things about me,

all day long.

63 Look at them! Whether they are standing or sitting

they make fun of me with the songs that they sing.

64 Yahweh, cause them to suffer

in return for their causing me to suffer!

65 Curse them [IDM]

for their being very stubborn [IDM].

66 Because you are angry with them, pursue them and get rid of them,

until none of them remain on the earth.

What happened when Jerusalem was destroyed

4 Previously our people were like [MET] pure gold,

but now they are worthless.

Like [MET] the sacred stones in the temple have been scattered,

our young men have been scattered.

2 The young men of Jerusalem were as valuable as [MET] large amounts of gold,

but now people consider that they are as worthless as ordinary clay pots.

3 Even the female jackals/wolves feed their pups,

but my people act cruelly toward their children;

they are like [SIM] ostriches in the desert that abandon their eggs.

4 My people’s infants’ tongues cling to the roofs/tops of their mouths

because they are extremely thirsty;

the children plead for some food,

but no one gives them any.

5 People who previously ate fine food

are now starving in the streets;

those who previously lived luxuriously [MTY]

now paw/dig through rubbish heaps to find some food.

6 The people of Sodom were struck with a disaster very suddenly,

and there was no one to rescue them;

but my people have been punished

more severely than the people of Sodom were punished.

7 Our leaders’ behavior was previously very pure,

whiter and brighter than snow and milk;

their bodies were redder than red coral/stones;

they were very strong and healthy [MET].

8 But now their faces are blacker than soot,

and no one recognizes them in the streets.

Their skin has shriveled on their bones,

and it has become as dry as [SIM] a wooden stick.

9 It is better to die in a battle [MTY]

than to die of hunger.

There was no food to harvest in the fields,

so the people slowly starved until they died.

10 Women who usually/previously were very kind

have killed and cooked their own children;

they ate them when there was no other food,

when Jerusalem was surrounded by enemy soldiers.

11 Yahweh has shown that he was extremely angry;

it is as though he started/ignited a fire in Jerusalem

that burned everything to ashes.

12 None of the kings on the earth or anyone else

believed that any of our enemies could enter the gates of Jerusalem.

13 But that is what happened;

it happened because the prophets sinned;

and the priests also sinned

by causing innocent people to be executed [MTY].

14 The prophets and priests wandered through the streets

as though they were blind.

No one would touch them

because their clothes were stained with the blood of people who had been killed.

15 The people who were alive shouted, “Stay away from us [DOU]! You are defiled/untouchable!

Do not touch us!”

So the prophets and priests fled from Israel,

and they wandered around from one country to another,

because people in each country kept saying to them, “You cannot stay here!”

16 It is Yahweh himself who has scattered them;

he no longer is concerned about them.

People do not respect our priests or leaders.

17 We [SYN] continued to look for someone to help us,

but it was useless.

We continued to watch to see if one of our allies would save us,

but none of the nations that we were waiting for could help us.

18 Our enemies were hunting for us,

so we could not even walk in our streets lest they seize us.

We were about to be captured;

it was time for us to be killed.

19 Those who pursued us were faster than eagles flying in the sky.

Even if we fled to the mountains

or hid in the desert,

they went there ahead of us and waited to attack us.

20 Our king, whom Yahweh appointed,

was the one who enabled us to remain alive [MTY];

he was the one whom we trusted to protect us [IDM]

from the armies of other nations.

But he was captured

like animals are [MET] caught in a pit.

21 You people of [IDM] Edom and Uz,

you may be happy about what is happening to us now,

but Yahweh will be punishing [MTY] you also.

You will become drunk and will be ashamed

because your enemies will have stripped off your clothes.

22 You people of [APO] Jerusalem,

the time of your being punished will end;

Yahweh will not allow you to continue to live in ◄exile/foreign countries►.

But you people of [APO] Edom, Yahweh will punish you;

he will reveal the wicked things that you have done.

A prayer for God’s mercy

5 Yahweh, think about what has happened to us.

See that we have been disgraced.

2 Foreigners have seized our property,

and now they live in our homes.

3 Our enemies have killed our fathers;

they caused our mothers to become widows.

4 Now we are required to pay for water to drink,

and we must pay a lot of money for firewood.

5 It is as though those who pursue us are at our heels;

we are exhausted, but they do not allow us to rest.

6 In order to get enough food to remain alive,

we went to Egypt and Assyria and offered to work for the people there.

7 Our ancestors sinned, and now they are dead,

but we are being punished for the sins that they committed.

8 Officials from Babylon who were previously slaves now rule over us,

and there is no one who can rescue us from their power.

9 When we roam around in the desert searching for food, we are in danger of being killed,

because people there kill strangers with their swords.

10 Our skin has become hot like [SIM] an oven,

and we have a very high fever because we are extremely hungry.

11 Our enemies have raped the women in Jerusalem,

and they have done that to the young women in all the towns of Judea.

12 Our enemies have hanged our leaders,

and they do not respect our elders.

13 They force our young men to grind flour with millstones,

and boys stagger while they are forced to carry heavy loads of firewood.

14 Our elders no longer sit at the city gates to make important decisions;

the young men no longer play their musical instruments.

15 We [SYN] are no longer joyful;

instead of dancing joyfully, we now mourn.

16 The wreaths of flowers have fallen off our heads.

Terrible things have happened to us because of the sins that we committed.

17 We [SYN] are tired and discouraged [IDM],

and we cannot see well because our eyes are full of tears.

18 Jerusalem is completely deserted,

and jackals/wolves prowl around it.

19 But Yahweh, you rule forever!

You continue to rule [MTY] from one generation to the next generation.

20 So why [RHQ] have you forgotten us?

Why [RHQ] have you abandoned us for a very long time?

21 Please enable us to return to you,

and enable us to prosper [MTY] as we did previously.

22 Please do that, because we hope that [RHQ] you have not rejected us forever

and that [RHQ] you do not continue to be extremely angry with us!