2:1 ALEPH. How has the Lord darkened in his
wrath the daughter of Sion! he has cast down the glory of Israel from heaven
to earth, and has not remembered his footstool.
2:2 BETH. In the day of his wrath the Lord has overwhelmed [her] as in the
sea, [and] not spared: he has brought down in his fury all the beautiful
things of Jacob; he has brought down to the ground the strong-holds of the
daughter of Juda; he has profaned her kings and her princes.
2:3 GIMEL. He has broken in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel: he has
turned back his right hand from the face of the enemy, and has kindled a
flame in Jacob as a fire, and it has devoured all things round about.
2:4 DALETH. He has bent his bow as an opposing enemy: he has strengthened
his right hand as an adversary, and has destroyed all the desirable things
of my eyes in the tabernacle of the daughter of Sion: he has poured forth
his anger as fire.
2:5 HE. The Lord is become as an enemy: he has overwhelmed Israel as in the
sea, he has overwhelmed her palaces: he has destroyed her strong-holds, and
has multiplied the afflicted and humbled ones to the daughter of Juda.
2:6 VAU. And he has scattered his tabernacle as a vine, he has marred his
feast: the Lord has forgotten the feast and the sabbath which he appointed
in Sion, and in the fury of his wrath has vexed the king, and priest, and
prince.
2:7 ZAIN. The Lord has rejected his altar, he has cast off his sanctuary, he
has broken by the hand of the enemy the wall of her palaces; they have
uttered their voice in the house of the Lord as on a feast day.
2:8 HETH. And he has turned to destroy the wall of the daughter of Sion: he
has stretched out the measuring line, he has not turned back his hand from
afflicting [her]: therefore the bulwark mourned, and the wall was weakened
with it.
2:9 TETH. Her gates are sunk into the ground: he has destroyed and broken to
pieces her bars, [and] her king and her prince among the Gentiles: there is
no law, nay, her prophets have seen no vision from the Lord.
2:10 JOD. The elders of the daughter of Sion have sat upon the ground, they
have kept silence: they have cast up dust upon their heads; they have girded
themselves with sackcloths: they have brought down to the ground the chief
virgins in Jerusalem.
2:11 CHAPH. Mine eyes have failed with tears, my heart is troubled, my glory
is cast down to the ground, for the destruction of the daughter of my
people; while the infant and suckling swoon in the streets of the city.
2:12 LAMED. They said to their mothers, Where is corn and wine? while they
fainted like wounded men in the streets of the city, while their souls were
poured out into their mother's bosom.
2:13 MEM. What shall I testify to thee, or what shall I compare to thee, O
daughter of Jerusalem? who shall save and comfort thee, O virgin daughter of
Sion? for the cup of thy destruction is enlarged: who shall heal thee?
2:14 NUN. Thy prophets have seen for thee vanities and folly: and they have
not discovered thine iniquity, to turn back thy captivity; but they have
seen for thee vain burdens, and worthless visions.
2:15 SAMECH. All that go by the way have clapped their hands at thee; they
have hissed and shaken their head at the daughter of Jerusalem. Is this the
city, they say, the crown of joy of all the earth?
2:16 AIN. All thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee: they have
hissed and gnashed their teeth, and said, We have swallowed her up: moreover
this is the day which we looked for; we have found it, we have seen it.
2:17 PHE. The Lord has done that which he purposed; he has accomplished his
word, [even] the things which he commanded from the ancient days: he has
thrown down, and has not spared: and he has caused the enemy to rejoice over
thee, he has exalted the horn of him that afflicted thee.
2:18 TSADE. Their heart cried to the Lord, Ye walls of Sion, pour down tears
like torrents day and night: give thyself no rest; let not the apple of
thine eyes cease.
2:19 KOPH. Arise, rejoice in the night at the beginning of thy watch: pour
out thy heart as water before the face of the Lord lift up thy hands to him
for the life of thine infants, who faint for hunger at the top of all the
streets.
2:20 RHECHS. Behold, O Lord, and see for whom thou has gathered thus. Shall
the women eat the fruit of their womb? the cook has made a gathering: shall
the infants sucking at the breasts be slain? wilt thou slay the priest and
prophet in the sanctuary of the Lord?
2:21 CHSEN. The child and old man have lain down in the street: my virgins
and my young men are gone into captivity: thou hast slain [them] with the
sword and with famine; in the day of thy wrath thou hast mangled [them],
thou has not spared.
2:22 THAU. He has called my sojourners round about to a solemn day, and
there was not in the day of the wrath of the Lord any one that escaped or
was left; whereas I have strengthened and multiplied all mine enemies. |
2:1 How hath the LORD covered the daughter
of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and cast down from heaven unto the earth
the beauty of Israel, and remembered not his footstool in the day of his
anger!
2:2 The LORD hath swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and hath not
pitied: he hath thrown down in his wrath the strong holds of the daughter of
Judah; he hath brought them down to the ground: he hath polluted the kingdom
and the princes thereof.
2:3 He hath cut off in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel: he hath
drawn back his right hand from before the enemy, and he burned against Jacob
like a flaming fire, which devoureth round about.
2:4 He hath bent his bow like an enemy: he stood with his right hand as an
adversary, and slew all that were pleasant to the eye in the tabernacle of
the daughter of Zion: he poured out his fury like fire.
2:5 The LORD was as an enemy: he hath swallowed up Israel, he hath swallowed
up all her palaces: he hath destroyed his strong holds, and hath increased
in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation.
2:6 And he hath violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were of a
garden: he hath destroyed his places of the assembly: the LORD hath caused
the solemn feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion, and hath despised in
the indignation of his anger the king and the priest.
2:7 The LORD hath cast off his altar, he hath abhorred his sanctuary, he
hath given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; they have
made a noise in the house of the LORD, as in the day of a solemn feast.
2:8 The LORD hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion: he
hath stretched out a line, he hath not withdrawn his hand from destroying:
therefore he made the rampart and the wall to lament; they languished
together.
2:9 Her gates are sunk into the ground; he hath destroyed and broken her
bars: her king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no more;
her prophets also find no vision from the LORD.
2:10 The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground, and keep
silence: they have cast up dust upon their heads; they have girded
themselves with sackcloth: the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to
the ground.
2:11 Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, my liver is
poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people;
because the children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the city.
2:12 They say to their mothers, Where is corn and wine? when they swooned as
the wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul was poured out into
their mothers' bosom.
2:13 What thing shall I take to witness for thee? what thing shall I liken
to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? what shall I equal to thee, that I may
comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? for thy breach is great like the
sea: who can heal thee?
2:14 Thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee: and they have
not discovered thine iniquity, to turn away thy captivity; but have seen for
thee false burdens and causes of banishment.
2:15 All that pass by clap their hands at thee; they hiss and wag their head
at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men call The
perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth?
2:16 All thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee: they hiss and
gnash the teeth: they say, We have swallowed her up: certainly this is the
day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen it.
2:17 The LORD hath done that which he had devised; he hath fulfilled his
word that he had commanded in the days of old: he hath thrown down, and hath
not pitied: and he hath caused thine enemy to rejoice over thee, he hath set
up the horn of thine adversaries.
2:18 Their heart cried unto the LORD, O wall of the daughter of Zion, let
tears run down like a river day and night: give thyself no rest; let not the
apple of thine eye cease.
2:19 Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the watches pour out
thine heart like water before the face of the LORD: lift up thy hands toward
him for the life of thy young children, that faint for hunger in the top of
every street.
2:20 Behold, O LORD, and consider to whom thou hast done this. Shall the
women eat their fruit, and children of a span long? shall the priest and the
prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?
2:21 The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets: my virgins and
my young men are fallen by the sword; thou hast slain them in the day of
thine anger; thou hast killed, and not pitied.
2:22 Thou hast called as in a solemn day my terrors round about, so that in
the day of the LORD's anger none escaped nor remained: those that I have
swaddled and brought up hath mine enemy consumed. |