Lam 2 | ESV | STEP | How the Lord in his anger has set the daughter of Zion under a cloud ! He has cast down from heaven to earth the splendor of Israel ; he has not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger .

1 How the Lord in his anger
has set the daughter of Zion ^aunder a cloud!
^bHe has cast down from heaven to earth
the splendor of Israel;
he has not remembered ^chis footstool
in the day of his anger.
2 The Lord ^dhas swallowed up ^ewithout mercy
all the habitations of Jacob;
in his wrath ^fhe has broken down
the strongholds of the daughter of Judah;
he has brought ^gdown to the ground ^hin dishonor
the kingdom ⁱand its rulers.
3 He has cut down in ^jfierce anger
all ^kthe might of Israel;
^lhe has withdrawn from them his right hand
in the face of the enemy;
^mhe has burned like a flaming fire in Jacob,
consuming all around.
4 ⁿHe has bent his bow like an enemy,
with his right hand set ^olike a foe;
and he has killed all who were delightful in our eyes
in the tent of the daughter of Zion;
he has poured out his fury like fire.
5 ^pThe Lord has become like an enemy;
^qhe has swallowed up Israel;
^rhe has swallowed up all its palaces;
he has laid in ruins its strongholds,
and he has multiplied in the daughter of Judah
^smourning and lamentation.
6 He has laid waste his booth like a garden,
laid in ruins ^this meeting place;
^uthe Lord has made Zion forget
festival and ^vSabbath,
and in his fierce indignation has spurned king and priest.
7 ^wThe Lord has scorned his altar,
^xdisowned his sanctuary;
^yhe has delivered into the hand of the enemy
the walls of her palaces;
^zthey raised a clamor in the house of the Lord
as on the day of festival.
8 ^aaThe Lord determined to lay in ruins
^abthe wall of the daughter of Zion;
^ache stretched out the measuring line;
he did not restrain his hand from destroying;
^adhe caused rampart and wall to lament;
^aethey languished together.
9 Her gates have sunk into the ground;
^afhe has ruined ^agand broken her bars;
^ahher king and princes are among the nations;
the law is no more,
and ^aiher prophets find
no vision from the Lord.
10 The elders of the daughter of Zion
^ajsit on the ground ^akin silence;
^althey have thrown dust on their heads
and ^amput on sackcloth;
the young women of Jerusalem
have bowed their heads to the ground.
11 ^anMy eyes are spent with weeping;
^aomy stomach churns;
^apmy bile is poured out to the ground
^aqbecause of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
^arbecause infants and babies ^asfaint
in the streets of the city.
12 They cry to their mothers,
^at“Where is bread and wine?”
^auas they faint like a wounded man
in the streets of the city,
as their life is poured out
on their mothers’ bosom.
13 What can I say for you, ^avto what compare you,
O daughter of Jerusalem?
^awWhat can I liken to you, that I may comfort you,
O virgin daughter of Zion?
^axFor your ruin is vast as the sea;
who can heal you?
14 ^ayYour prophets have seen for you
false and deceptive visions;
^azthey have not exposed your iniquity
to ^barestore your fortunes,
^bbbut have seen for you ^bcoracles
that are false and misleading.
15 All who pass along the way
clap their hands at you;
^bdthey hiss and wag their heads
at the daughter of Jerusalem:
“Is this the city that was called
^bethe perfection of beauty,
^bfthe joy of all the earth?”
16 ^bgAll your enemies
rail against you;
they hiss, they gnash their teeth,
they cry: “We ^bhhave swallowed her!
Ah, this is the day we longed for;
now we have it; ^biwe see it!”
17 The Lord has done what he purposed;
he has carried out ^bjhis word,
which he commanded ^bklong ago;
^blhe has thrown down ^bmwithout pity;
^bnhe has made the enemy rejoice over you
and exalted the ^bomight of your foes.
18 Their heart cried to the Lord.
O ^bpwall of the daughter of Zion,
^bqlet tears stream down like a torrent
^brday and night!
^bsGive yourself no rest,
^btyour eyes no respite!
19 “Arise, ^bucry out in the night,
at the beginning of the night watches!
^bvPour out your heart like water
before the presence of the Lord!
^bwLift your hands to him
for the lives of your children,
^bxwho faint for hunger
at the head of every street.”
20 Look, O Lord, and see!
^byWith whom have you dealt thus?
^bzShould women eat the fruit of their womb,
the children of ^catheir tender care?
Should ^cbpriest and prophet be killed
in the sanctuary of the Lord?
21 In the dust of the streets
^cclie the young and the old;
^cdmy young women and my young men
have fallen by the sword;
^ceyou have killed them in the day of your anger,
slaughtering ^cfwithout pity.
22 You summoned as if to ^cga festival day
^chmy terrors on every side,
^ciand on the day of the anger of the Lord
no one escaped or survived;
^cjthose whom I held and raised
my enemy destroyed.