Lamentations 1

1 ¹ How lonely sits the city that once was full of people! She has become like a widow, she who was great among the nations. She who was a princess among the provinces has become a forced laborer. ^a a v1 Lamentations chapters 1, 2, and 4 are acrostic — each verse begins with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet, a complete 'A to Z' of grief; chapter 3 triples the pattern. The structure is lost in English, but the shape of the sorrow is preserved. ² Bitterly she weeps in the night, tears on her cheeks. Among all her lovers she has 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 servitude; she lives among the nations but finds no resting place. All her pursuers have overtaken her in the midst of her distress. ⁴ The roads to Zion mourn, for no one comes to the appointed feasts. All her gates are desolate, her priests groan, her young women grieve, and she herself is in bitter anguish. ⁵ Her foes have become her masters, her enemies are at ease, for our Father has afflicted her because of her many transgressions. Her children have gone away, led captive before the enemy. ^b b v5 Lamentations holds together two truths the heart resists joining: our Father disciplines his children, and his discipline is never the last word. The same book says he 'will not cast off forever; though he causes grief, he will have compassion' (Lam 3:31-32). ⁶ All her majesty has departed from the daughter of Zion. Her princes have become like deer that find no pasture; they flee without strength before their pursuers. ⁷ In the days of her affliction and wandering, Jerusalem remembers all the precious things that were hers from days of old. When her people fell into the hands of the enemy, with no one to help her, the enemies looked on and mocked her downfall. ⁸ Jerusalem has sinned grievously; therefore she has become an object of scorn. All who honored her despise her, for they have seen her nakedness; she herself groans and turns away. ⁹ Her uncleanness clung to her skirts; she gave no thought to her future. Her fall is astounding, with no one to comfort her. "Look, my Father, on my affliction, for the enemy has triumphed! ^c c v9 Her 'skirts' are the hem and folds of her robe — ritual impurity clinging there was publicly visible, marking her as openly defiled with no attempt to conceal it. ¹⁰ The enemy has stretched out his hand over all her precious things; she has watched the nations enter her sanctuary — those you had forbidden to enter your assembly. ¹¹ All her people groan as they search for bread; they trade their treasures for food just to stay alive. "Look, my Father, and see, for I have become despised. ¹² Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which was brought upon me, which our Father inflicted on the day of his fierce anger. ¹³ From on high he sent fire into my bones, and it overcame them. He spread a net for my feet and turned me back; he has left me desolate, faint all the day long. ¹⁴ My transgressions were bound into a yoke; knit together by his hand, they were laid upon my neck, and he sapped my strength. The Sovereign Father handed me over to those I cannot withstand. ¹⁵ The Sovereign Father has rejected all the mighty men in my midst; he summoned an assembly against me to crush my young men. The Sovereign Father has trampled the virgin daughter of Judah as in a winepress. ^d d v15 The word for 'assembly' is the same used for a sacred feast gathering — its use here for an army of destruction carries bitter, deliberate irony. ¹⁶ For these things I weep; my eyes, my eyes flow with tears, for a comforter who could revive my spirit is far from me. My children are desolate, for the enemy has prevailed. ¹⁷ Zion stretches out her hands, but there is no one to comfort her. Our Father has decreed that Jacob's neighbors would become his enemies; Jerusalem has become a filthy thing among them. ¹⁸ Our Father is righteous, for I have rebelled against his word. Hear, all you peoples, and look on my suffering; my young women and my young men have gone into captivity. ¹⁹ I called to my lovers, but they deceived me. My priests and my elders perished in the city while they searched for food just to stay alive. ²⁰ Look, my Father, for I am in distress; my stomach churns, my heart is overturned within me, for I have been very rebellious. In the street the sword cuts people down; in the house it is like death. ²¹ They have heard how I groan, with no one to comfort me. All my enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that you have done it. Bring on the day you have declared, that they may become like me. ²² Let all their evil come before you, and deal with them as you have dealt with me for all my transgressions; for my groans are many, and my heart is faint.