Lam 1 | ESV | STEP | How lonely sits the city that was full of people ! How like a widow has she become, she who was great among the nations ! She who was a princess among the provinces has become a slave .

1 ^aHow lonely sits the city
that was full of people!
How like ^ba widow has she become,
she who was great among the nations!
She who was ^ca princess among the provinces
has become ^da slave.
2 ^eShe weeps bitterly in the night,
with tears on her cheeks;
^famong all her lovers
she has ^gnone to comfort her;
^hall her friends have dealt treacherously with her;
they have become her enemies.
3 ⁱJudah has gone into exile because of affliction
and hard servitude;
^jshe dwells now among the nations,
^kbut finds no resting place;
her pursuers have all overtaken her
in the midst of her distress. ^{▼▼Or in the narrow passes}
4 The roads to Zion mourn,
for none come to ^mthe festival;
ⁿall her gates are desolate;
her priests ^ogroan;
her virgins have been afflicted, ^{▼▼Septuagint, Old Latin dragged away}
and she herself suffers bitterly.
5 ^qHer foes have become the head;
her ^renemies prosper,
because ^sthe Lord has afflicted her
^tfor the multitude of her transgressions;
^uher children have gone away,
captives before the foe.
6 From the daughter of Zion
all her majesty has departed.
Her princes have become like deer
^vthat find no pasture;
they fled without strength
before the pursuer.
7 Jerusalem remembers
in the days of her affliction and wandering
^wall the precious things
that were hers from ^xdays of old.
When her people fell into the hand of the foe,
and there was none to help her,
her foes gloated over her;
they ^ymocked at her downfall.
8 ^zJerusalem sinned grievously;
therefore she became filthy;
all who honored her despise her,
^aafor they have seen her nakedness;
she herself ^abgroans
and turns her face away.
9 Her uncleanness was ^acin her skirts;
^adshe took no thought of her future; ^{▼▼Or end}
therefore her fall is terrible;
^afshe has no comforter.
“O Lord, behold my affliction,
for the enemy has ^agtriumphed!”
10 The enemy has stretched out his hands
over all her ^ahprecious things;
for she has seen ^aithe nations
enter her sanctuary,
those whom you ^ajforbade
to enter your congregation.
11 All her people ^akgroan
as ^althey search for bread;
they trade their ^amtreasures for ^anfood
to revive their strength.
“Look, O Lord, and see,
for I am despised.”
12 “Is it nothing to you, all ^aoyou who pass by?
^apLook and see
if there is any sorrow like my sorrow,
which was brought upon me,
which ^aqthe Lord inflicted
on ^arthe day of his fierce anger.
13 “From on high he ^assent fire;
into my bones ^{▼▼Septuagint; Hebrew bones and} he made it descend;
^auhe spread a net for my feet;
he turned me back;
^avhe has left me stunned,
faint all the day long.
14 “My transgressions were bound ^{▼▼The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain} into ^axa yoke;
by his hand they were fastened together;
they were set upon my neck;
he caused my strength to fail;
the Lord gave me into the hands
of those whom I cannot withstand.
15 “The Lord rejected
all my mighty men in my midst;
he summoned an assembly against me
to crush my young men;
^aythe Lord has trodden as in a winepress
the virgin daughter of Judah.
16 “For these things ^azI weep;
my eyes flow with tears;
for ^baa comforter is far from me,
one to ^bbrevive my spirit;
my children are desolate,
for the enemy has prevailed.”
17 ^bcZion stretches out her hands,
but ^bdthere is none to comfort her;
the Lord has commanded against Jacob
that his neighbors should be his foes;
Jerusalem has become
a filthy thing among them.
18 ^be“The Lord is in the right,
^bffor I have rebelled against his word;
but hear, all you peoples,
and see my suffering;
^bgmy young women and my young men
have gone into captivity.
19 “I called to ^bhmy lovers,
but they deceived me;
my priests and elders
perished in the city,
while ^bithey sought food
to revive their strength.
20 “Look, O Lord, for I am in distress;
^bjmy stomach churns;
my heart is wrung within me,
because I have been very rebellious.
^bkIn the street the sword bereaves;
in the house it is like death.
21 “They heard ^{▼▼Septuagint, Syriac Hear} ^bmmy groaning,
yet ^bnthere is no one to comfort me.
All my enemies have heard of my trouble;
^bothey are glad that you have done it.
You have brought ^{▼▼Syriac Bring} the day you announced;
^bqnow let them be as I am.
22 ^br“Let all their evildoing come before you,
and deal with them
as ^bsyou have dealt with me
because of all my transgressions;
for ^btmy groans are many,
and ^bumy heart is faint.”