## Zion Lays Desolate 

###### 1
How lonely sits the city That was great with people! She has become like a widow Who was _once_ great among the nations! She who was a princess among the provinces Has become a forced laborer! 

###### 2
She weeps bitterly in the night, And her tears are on her cheeks; She has none to comfort her Among all her lovers. All her friends have dealt treacherously with her; They have become her enemies. 

###### 3
Judah has gone into exile because of affliction And because of great slavery; She sits among the nations, _But_ she has found no rest; All her pursuers have overtaken her In the midst of distress. 

###### 4
The roads of Zion are in mourning Because no one comes to the appointed times. All her gates are desolate; Her priests are sighing, Her virgins are grieving, And she herself is bitter. 

###### 5
Her adversaries have become her masters; Her enemies are complacent; For Yahweh has caused her grief Because of the greatness of her transgressions; Her infants have gone away As captives before the adversary. 

###### 6
So all her majesty Has gone out from the daughter of Zion; Her princes have become like deer That have found no pasture; So they have fled without strength Before the pursuer. 

###### 7
In the days of her affliction and homelessness Jerusalem remembers all her precious things That were from the days of old, When her people fell into the hand of the adversary And no one helped her. The adversaries saw her; They laughed at her ruin. 

###### 8
Jerusalem sinned greatly; Therefore she has become an impure thing. All who honored her despise her Because they have seen her nakedness; Even she herself sighs and turns away. 

###### 9
Her uncleanness was in her skirts; She did not remember her future. Therefore she has gone down astonishingly; She has no comforter. "See, O Yahweh, my affliction, For the enemy has magnified himself!" 

###### 10
The adversary has stretched out his hand Over all her desirable things, For she has seen the nations enter her sanctuary, The ones whom You commanded That they should not enter into Your assembly. 

###### 11
All her people are sighing, seeking bread; They have given their desirable things for food To restore _their_ souls. "See, O Yahweh, and look, For I am despised." 

###### 12
"Is it nothing to all you who pass this way? Look and see if there is any pain like my pain Which was dealt severely to me, Which Yahweh grieved _me_ with on the day of His burning anger. 

###### 13
From on high He sent fire into my bones, And it dominated _them_. He has spread a net for my feet; He has turned me back; He has made me desolate, Faint all day long. 

###### 14
The yoke of my transgressions is bound; By His hand they are knit together. They have come upon my neck; He has made my strength stumble. The Lord has given me into the hands Of _those against whom_ I am not able to stand. 

###### 15
The Lord has rejected all my mighty men In my midst; He has called an appointed time against me To break my young men; The Lord has trodden _as in_ a wine press The virgin daughter of Judah. 

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For these things I am weeping; My eyes run down with water; Because far from me is a comforter, One who restores my soul. My children are desolate Because the enemy has prevailed." 

###### 17
Zion stretches out her hands; There is no one to comfort her; Yahweh has commanded concerning Jacob That the ones round about him should be his adversaries; Jerusalem has become an impure thing among them. 

###### 18
"Yahweh is righteous; For I have rebelled against His command; Hear now, all peoples, And behold my pain; My virgins and my young men Have gone into captivity. 

###### 19
I called to my lovers, _but_ they deceived me; My priests and my elders breathed their last in the city While they sought food for themselves in order to restore their souls. 

###### 20
See, O Yahweh, for I am in distress; My inmost being is greatly disturbed; My heart is overturned within me, For I have been very rebellious. In the street the sword bereaves; In the house it is like death. 

###### 21
They have heard that I am sighing; There is no one to comfort me; All my enemies have heard of the evil _done to_ me; They rejoice that You have done _it_. You have brought the day which You have proclaimed, So that they will become like me. 

###### 22
Let all their evil come before You; And deal severely with them as You have dealt severely with me For all my transgressions; For my groans are great and my heart is faint."