1 How the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion in his anger with a cloud! He has thrown down the splendor of Israel from heaven to earth and has not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger.

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 The Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob without pity. In his wrath, he has torn down the fortresses of the daughter of Judah, bringing them down to the ground. He has defiled her kingdom and its rulers.

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.

3 In his fierce anger, he has cut off every horn of Israel. He has withdrawn his right hand from the presence of the enemy and burned in Jacob like a blazing fire that engulfs everything around it.

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.

4 He bent his bow like an enemy, his right hand poised like an adversary. He has killed all that was precious to the eye and poured out his fury like fire on the tent of the daughter of Zion.

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.

5 The Lord appeared like an enemy; he has swallowed up Israel. He has swallowed all her palaces, destroyed her strongholds, and filled the daughter of Judah with mourning and lamentation.

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.

6 He has violently done away with his dwelling, as if it were a garden, destroying his appointed meeting place. The LORD has caused Zion to forget its appointed times and Sabbaths. In his fierce anger, he has despised king and priest alike.

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.

7 The Lord has rejected his altar and disowned his sanctuary. He has delivered into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces. They raised their voices in the house of the LORD as on a day of appointed festival.

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.

8 The LORD determined to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion. He stretched out a measuring line and did not turn back his hand from destroying. He caused rampart and wall to lament; they languished together.

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.

9 Her gates have sunk into the ground; he has destroyed and broken her bars. Her king and princes are among the nations, and there is no law. Even her prophets receive no vision from the LORD.

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.

10 The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground in silence. They have thrown dust on their heads and dressed themselves in sackcloth. The young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground in despair.

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.

11 My eyes are worn out from weeping, my inner being is in turmoil; my heart is poured out on the ground because of the destruction of my people, as children and infants faint in the streets of the city.

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.

12 They cry out to their mothers, 'Where is the bread and the wine?' as they faint like the wounded in the streets of the city, and as they breathe their last in their mothers’ arms.

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.

13 What can I say on your behalf? To what can I compare you, O daughter of Jerusalem? What can I liken you to, so that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? Your wound is as vast as the sea—who can heal you?

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?

14 The visions of your prophets were false and empty; they did not expose your iniquity to restore your fortunes. Instead, they saw false and misleading oracles for you.

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.

15 All who pass along the way clap their hands at you; they hiss and wag their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, 'Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth?'

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?

16 All your enemies open their mouths against you; they hiss and grind their teeth, saying, 'We have swallowed her up. Surely this is the day we hoped for; we have found it, we have seen it.'

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.

17 The LORD has done what he planned; he has fulfilled his word that he decreed long ago. He has overthrown without pity; he has let the enemy gloat over you and exalt the horn of your adversaries.

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.

18 Their heart cried out to the Lord. O wall of the daughter of Zion, let your tears flow like a stream day and night; give yourself no rest, and let your eyes have no respite.

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.

19 Arise, cry out in the night, at the start of the night watches; pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord. Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your little children who faint from hunger at every street corner.

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.

20 Look, LORD, and consider: Whom have you ever treated like this? Should women eat their own children, the little ones they have cherished? Should priest and prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?

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?

21 Young and old lie together in the dust of the streets; my young women and young men have fallen by the sword. You have slain them in the day of your anger; you have slaughtered them without pity.

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.

22 You summoned, as if to a feast day, terrors on every side. On the day of the LORD’s anger, no one escaped or survived. Those I cared for and raised, my enemy has destroyed.

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.