Lamentations of Jeremiah 2

Lamentations of Jeremiah 2, verse 1. ¹“How did the Lord darken The daughter of Zion in His wrath? He cast down the glory of Israel From heaven to earth, And did not remember His footstool In the day of His wrath. Lamentations of Jeremiah 2, verse 2. ²“The Lord has swallowed up and not spared All the beauty of Jacob. In His anger, He brought down the strongholds Of the daughter of Judah. He brought them down to the ground; He desecrated her king and its princes. Lamentations of Jeremiah 2, verse 3. ³“In fierce anger, He broke off every horn of Israel And drew back His right hand From the face of the enemy. He blazed against Jacob like a flaming fire, And it devoured everything all around. Lamentations of Jeremiah 2, verse 4. ⁴“He bent His bow like an enemy And strengthened His right hand like an adversary. He put to death all the objects of my desire, And poured out His anger like a fire On the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion. Lamentations of Jeremiah 2, verse 5. ⁵“The Lord became like an enemy And swallowed up Israel. He brought down all his palaces, Destroyed his strongholds, And multiplied shame and humiliation In the daughter of Judah. Lamentations of Jeremiah 2, verse 6. ⁶“He opened and spread out His tabernacle like a vine And destroyed His feast. The Lord forgot His festivals and the Sabbath Which He appointed in Zion, And in the fury of His wrath He provoked king, priest, and prince. Lamentations of Jeremiah 2, verse 7. ⁷“The Lord rejected His altar And abandoned His sanctuary. By the hand of the enemy, He broke in pieces the wall of her palaces. They uttered their voice in the house of the Lord As on a feast day. Lamentations of Jeremiah 2, verse 8. ⁸“The Lord turned to destroy The wall of the daughter of Zion. He stretched out a measuring line And has not turned back His hand from trampling her. Therefore the bulwark mourned, And the wall weakened with it. Lamentations of Jeremiah 2, verse 9. ⁹“Her gates sank into the ground, And He destroyed and broke her bars. Her king and her princes are among the Gentiles, And the Law is no more; And indeed, her prophets see no vision from the Lord. Lamentations of Jeremiah 2, verse 10. ¹⁰“The elders of the daughter of Zion Sit on the ground and keep silence. They throw dust on their heads And gird themselves with sackcloth. They have brought down to the ground The leading virgins in Jerusalem. Lamentations of Jeremiah 2, verse 11. ¹¹“My eyes fail with tears, And my heart is troubled. My glory is poured out upon the ground At the destruction of the daughter of my people, While the child and the nursing infants Faint in streets of the city. Lamentations of Jeremiah 2, verse 12. ¹²“They say to their mothers, ‘Where is the wheat and wine?’ While they faint like the wounded In the streets of the city, While their lives are being poured out In their mothers’ bosom. Lamentations of Jeremiah 2, verse 13. ¹³“What shall I testify to you, Or what shall I compare to you, O daughter of Jerusalem? Who will save and comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For the cup of your destruction is great; Who shall heal you? Lamentations of Jeremiah 2, verse 14. ¹⁴“Your prophets have seen foolishness And worthless things for you, But they did not reveal your wrongdoing So as to turn back your captivity. Instead, they saw worthless burdens And banishment for you. Lamentations of Jeremiah 2, verse 15. ¹⁵“All who pass by clap their hands at you, And they hiss and shake their head At the daughter of Jerusalem. ‘Is this the city they call The crown of glory, The joy of all the earth?’ Lamentations of Jeremiah 2, verse 16. ¹⁶“All your enemies have opened their mouths against you; They hiss and gnash their teeth. They say, ‘We have swallowed her up! Besides, this is the day we have looked for; We have found it; we have seen it.’ Lamentations of Jeremiah 2, verse 17. ¹⁷“The Lord has done what He purposed; He has carried out His words Which He commanded in days of old. He pulled down, and has not spared, And has caused the enemy to rejoice over you. He has exalted the horn of those who oppress you. Lamentations of Jeremiah 2, verse 18. ¹⁸Their heart cried out to the Lord, ‘O wall of Zion, Pour down tears like torrents, day and night; Give yourself no relief; May your eyes have no rest, O daughter. Lamentations of Jeremiah 2, verse 19. ¹⁹‘Arise, rejoice in the night, At the beginning of your watch. Pour out your heart like water Before the face of the Lord, And lift your hands up to Him For the life of your infants, Who grow weak in hunger On the corner of every street.’ Lamentations of Jeremiah 2, verse 20. ²⁰‘Behold, O Lord, and look For whom You have gathered thus. Shall the women eat the fruit of their womb? The cook has made a gleaning; Shall the infants who nurse the breasts be put to death? Will you kill priest and prophet In the sanctuary of the Lord? Lamentations of Jeremiah 2, verse 21. ²¹‘The child and the old man Sleep in the street. My virgins and my young men Have gone into captivity. You killed them with sword and famine In the day of Your wrath; You massacred and have not spared. Lamentations of Jeremiah 2, verse 22. ²²‘He called my sojourner round about me to a feast day. There was no one who escaped, or were left In the day of the Lord's wrath, As I strengthened and multiplied All my enemies.’