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v1
How, in his anger, ^[Literally “in his nose”] the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion in a cloud! He has thrown down from heavens to earth the splendor of Israel, and he has not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger. ^[Literally “his nose”]
v2
The Lord has devoured; he has not shown mercy to all the dwellings of Jacob; he has broken down in his wrath the fortifications of the daughter of Judah; he has leveled to the ground, he has dishonored the kingdom and its commanders. ^[Or “her commanders”]
v3
He has cut down in fierce anger ^[Literally “in a fierce nose”] all the might of Israel; he has withdrawn his right hand from the faces of the enemy, and he has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire, it has consumed all around.
v4
He has bent his bow like an enemy; he has set his right hand like a foe, and he has slain all the treasures of the eye; ^[NRSV translates “all in whom we took pride”] in the tent of the daughter of Zion, he has poured out his anger like fire.
v5
The Lord has become like an enemy; he has destroyed Israel; he has destroyed all its citadel fortresses; ^[Or “her citadel fortresses”] he has ruined all its fortifications and multiplied lamentation and mourning in the daughter of Judah.
v6
He has broken down his dwelling ^[Literally “his booth”; or “his tabernacle”] place like the garden; he has ruined his appointed feasts; Yahweh has made them forget in Zion festival ^[Literally “appointed time”] and Sabbath, and he has despised in his anger king and priest.
v7
The Lord has rejected his altar; he has rejected his sanctuary; he has delivered into the hands of the enemy the walls of its citadel fortresses. ^[Or “her citadel fortress”] They have cried out in the house of Yahweh like a day of an appointed feast.
v8
Yahweh has planned to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion. He measured with a line; he has not restrained his hand from destroying; he caused rampart and wall to mourn; together they have languished away.
v9
Her gates have sunk into the earth; he has ruined and broken her bars, her kings and its princes are among the nations; there is no more law. ^[Hebrew torah] Also, her prophets have not found a revelation from Yahweh.
v10
They sit on the ground, the elders of the daughter of Zion are silent. They cast dust on their head, they have put on sackcloth; the young women of Jerusalem have bowed their head down to the ground.
v11
My eyes have spent all their tears; ^[Literally “finished with the weeping”] my stomach ^[Literally “my inward parts”] is in torment, my heart ^[Literally “my liver”] is poured out on the earth because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because child and babe faint in the public squares of a city.
v12
To their mothers they say, “Where is the bread and wine?” as they faint like the wounded in the public squares of a city, as their life is being poured out onto the bosom of their mothers.
v13
What can I say for you? What can I compare to you, O daughter of Jerusalem? To what can I liken you so that I can comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For your destruction is as vast as the sea; who can heal you?
v14
Your prophets had a vision for you, false and worthless; they have not exposed your sin, to restore your fortune; they have seen oracles for you, false and misleading.
v15
They clap hands over you, all who pass along the way; they hiss and they shake their head, at the daughter of Jerusalem. Is this the city of which it is said, “A perfection of beauty, a joy for all the earth?“
v16
They have opened their mouths against you, all your enemies. They hiss and gnash a tooth, and they say, “We have destroyed her! Surely this is the day we have hoped for; we have found it, we have seen it!“
v17
Yahweh has done what he has planned; he has fulfilled his promise that he ordained from the days of old; he has demolished and not shown mercy; he has made an enemy rejoice over you, he has exalted the might ^[Literally “horn”] of your foes.
v18
Their heart cried to the Lord, “O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears stream down like a river; day and night, do not give yourself relief, do not give your eyes rest.
v19
“Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the night watches; pour out your heart like water, before the face of the Lord. Lift to him your hands, for the life of your children, who faint in starvation, at the head of all streets.”
v20
See, Yahweh, and take note! With whom have you dealt thus? Should women eat their young children of tender care? Should priest and prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?
v21
They lie in the soil of the streets, young and old; my young women ^[Or “my virgins”] and young men, they have fallen by the sword; you have slain on the day of your anger, ^[Literally “your nose”] you have slaughtered and not shown mercy.
v22
You have summoned my horror from all around, as if for a feast day; no one on the day of Yahweh’s anger is a fugitive and a survivor; whoever I have cared for and reared, my enemy has destroyed.