Lamentations2God’s Anger over Jerusalem1 How the Lord has covered the Daughter of Zionwith the cloud of His anger!He has cast* the glory of Israelfrom heaven to earth.He has abandoned His footstoolin the day of His anger.2 Without pity the Lord has swallowed upall the dwellings of Jacob.In His wrath He has demolishedthe fortified cities of the Daughter of Judah.He brought to the ground and defiledher kingdom and its princes.3 In fierce anger He has cut offevery horn of Israeland withdrawn His right handat the approach of the enemy.He has burned in Jacob like a flaming firethat consumes everything around it.4 He has bent His bow like an enemy;His right hand is positioned.Like a foe He has killedall who were pleasing to the eye;He has poured out His wrath like fireon the tent of the Daughter of Zion.5 The Lord is like an enemy;He has swallowed up Israel.He has swallowed up all her palacesand destroyed her strongholds.He has multiplied mourning and lamentationfor the Daughter of Judah.6 He has laid waste His tabernacle like a garden booth;He has destroyed His place of meeting.*The LORD has made Zion forget*her appointed feasts* and Sabbaths.In His fierce angerHe has despised both king and priest.7 The Lord has rejected His altar;He has abandoned His sanctuary;He has delivered the walls of her palacesinto the hand of the enemy.They have raised a shout in the house of the LORDas on the day of an appointed feast.8 The LORD determined to destroythe wall of the Daughter of Zion.He stretched out a measuring lineand did not withdraw His hand from destroying.He made the ramparts and walls lament;*together they waste away.9 Her gates have sunk into the ground;He has destroyed and shattered their bars.Her king and her princes are exiled among the nations,the law is no more,and even her prophetsfind no vision from the LORD.10 The elders of the Daughter of Zionsit on the ground in silence.They have thrown dust on their headsand put on sackcloth.The young women of Jerusalemhave bowed their heads to the ground.11 My eyes fail from weeping;I am churning within.My heart is poured out* in griefover the destruction of the daughter of my people,because children and infants faintin the streets of the city.12 They cry out to their mothers:“Where is the grain and wine?”*as they faint like the woundedin the streets of the city,as their lives fade awayin the arms of their mothers.13 What can I say for you?To what can I compare you,O Daughter of Jerusalem?To what can I liken you,that I may console you,O Virgin Daughter of Zion?For your wound is as deep as the sea.Who can ever heal you?14 The visions of your prophetswere empty and deceptive;they did not expose your guiltto ward off your captivity.The burdens they envisioned for youwere empty and misleading.15 All who pass byclap their hands at you in scorn.They hiss and shake their headsat the Daughter of Jerusalem:“Is this the city that was calledthe perfection of beauty,the joy of all the earth?”16 All your enemiesopen their mouths against you.They hiss and gnash their teeth,saying, “We have swallowed her up.This is the day for which we have waited.*We have lived to see it!”17 The LORD has done what He planned;He has accomplished His decree,which He ordained in days of old;He has overthrown you without pity.He has let the enemy gloat over youand exalted the horn of your foes.18 The hearts of the peoplecry out to the Lord.O wall of the Daughter of Zion,let your tears run down like a riverday and night.Give yourself no relief,and your eyes no rest.19 Arise, cry out* in the nightfrom the first watch of the night.Pour out your heart like waterin the presence of the Lord.Lift up your hands to Himfor the lives of your childrenwho are fainting from hungeron the corner of every street.20 Look, O LORD, and consider:Whom have You ever treated like this?Should women eat their offspring,the infants they have nurtured?Should priests and prophets be killedin the sanctuary of the Lord?21 Both young and old lie togetherin the dust of the streets.My young men and maidenshave fallen by the sword.You have slain them in the day of Your anger;You have slaughtered them without compassion.22 You summoned my terrors on every side,as for the day of an appointed feast.In the day of the LORD’s angerno one escaped or survived;my enemy has destroyedthose I nurtured and reared.