Lamentations Chapter 2

Lamentations 2 — English translation

Translation: THE JPS TANAKH: Gender-Sensitive Edition. Verse numbers match the Hebrew text below.

1. 1א Alas! The Sovereign out of wrath Has shamed Fair Zion, Has cast down from heaven to earth The majesty of Israel. God’s Footstool was not remembered On this day of wrath.
2. 2ב The Sovereign has laid waste without pity All the habitations of Jacob— Has razed in anger Fair Judah’s strongholds, Bringing low in dishonor The kingdom and its leaders.
3. 3ג In blazing anger [God] has cut down All the might of Israel— Withdrawing vital support In the presence of the foe, And ravaging Jacob like flaming fire, Consuming on all sides.
4. 4ד [God] bent the bow like an enemy, Poised the right hand like a foe, And slew all who delighted the eye. God’s wrath was poured out like fire In the Tent of Fair Zion.
5. 5ה The Sovereign has acted like a foe— Laying waste Israel, Laying waste all her citadels, Destroying her strongholds, Increasing within Fair Judah Mourning and moaning.
6. 6ו God’s Booth has been stripped like a garden, And the Tabernacle, destroyed; G OD has ended in Zion Festival and sabbath; And in raging anger has spurned King and priest.
7. 7ז The Sovereign has rejected the altar, Disdained the Sanctuary, Handing over to the foe The walls of its citadels; They raised a shout in the House of G OD As on a festival day.
8. 8ח G OD resolved to destroy The wall of Fair Zion— Measuring it with a line, refraining not From bringing destruction. Wall and rampart have been made to mourn, Together they languish.
9. 9ט Her gates have sunk into the ground, Her bars have been smashed to bits; Her king and her leaders are in exile, Instruction, here priestly instruction; cf. Jer. 18.18 ; Hag. 2.11 ; Mal. 2.6 . is no more; Her prophets, too, receive No vision from G OD .
10. 10י Silent sit on the ground The elders of Fair Zion; They have strewn dust on their heads And girded themselves with sackcloth; The maidens of Jerusalem have bowed Their heads to the ground.
11. 11כ My eyes are spent with tears, My heart is in tumult, My being melts away Over the ruin of my poor people, As babes and sucklings languish In the squares of the city.
12. 12ל They keep asking their mothers, “Where is bread and wine?” As they languish like battle-wounded In the squares of the town, As their life runs out In their mothers’ bosoms.
13. 13מ What can I take as witness or liken To you, O Fair Jerusalem? What can I match with you to console you, O Fair Maiden Zion? For your ruin is vast as the sea: Who can heal you?
14. 14נ Your seers prophesied to you Delusion and folly. They did not expose your iniquity So as to restore your fortunes, But prophesied to you oracles Of delusion and deception.
15. 15ס All who pass your way Clap their hands at you; They hiss and wag their head At Fair Jerusalem: “Is this the city that was called Perfect in Beauty, Joy of All the Earth?”
16. 16פ All your enemies Jeer at you; They hiss and gnash their teeth, And cry: “We’ve ruined her! Ah, this is the day we hoped for; We have lived to see it!”
17. 17ע G OD has done what was purposed, Carrying out the decree That had been ordained long ago, And tearing down without pity. [God] has let the foe rejoice over you, Has exalted the might of your enemies.
18. 18צ Their heart cried out to the Sovereign. O wall of Fair Zion, Shed tears like a torrent Day and night! Give yourself no respite, Your eyes no rest.
19. 19ק Arise, cry out in the night At the beginning of the watches, Pour out your heart like water In the presence of the Sovereign! Lift up your hands to [God] For the life of your infants, Who faint for hunger At every street corner.
20. 20ר “See, O E TERNAL One, and behold, To whom You have done this! Alas, women eat their own fruit, Their newborn babes! Alas, priest and prophet are slain In the Sanctuary of the Sovereign!
21. 21ש Prostrate in the streets lie Both young and old. My maidens and youths Are fallen by the sword; You slew them on Your day of wrath, You slaughtered without pity.
22. 22ת You summoned, as on a festival, My neighbors from round about. On the day of G OD ’s wrath, None survived or escaped; Those whom I bore and reared My foe has consumed.”

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