Lamentations 1:12-22

Jerusalem says, “You who pass by on the road don’t seem to care. Come, look at me and see: Is there any pain like mine? Is there any pain like that he has caused me? The LORD has punished me on the day of his great anger. “He sent fire from above that went down into my bones. He stretched out a net for my feet and turned me back. He made me so sad and lonely that I am weak all day. “He has noticed my sins; they are tied together by his hands; they hang around my neck. He has turned my strength into weakness. The Lord has handed me over to those who are stronger than I. “The Lord has rejected all my mighty men inside my walls. He brought an army against me to destroy my young men. As if in a winepress, the Lord has crushed the capital city of Judah. “I cry about these things; my eyes overflow with tears. There is no one near to comfort me, no one who can give me strength again. My children are left sad and lonely, because the enemy has won.” Jerusalem reaches out her hands, but there is no one to comfort her. The LORD commanded the people of Jacob to be surrounded by their enemies. Jerusalem is now unclean like those around her. Jerusalem says, “The LORD is right, but I refused to obey him. Listen, all you people, and look at my pain. My young women and men have gone into captivity. “I called out to my friends, but they turned against me. My priests and my elders have died in the city while looking for food to stay alive. “Look at me, LORD. I am upset and greatly troubled. My heart is troubled, because I have been so stubborn. Out in the streets, the sword kills; inside the houses, death destroys. “People have heard my groaning, and there is no one to comfort me. All my enemies have heard of my trouble, and they are happy you have done this to me. Now bring that day you have announced so that my enemies will be like me. “Look at all their evil. Do to them what you have done to me because of all my sins. I groan over and over again, and I am afraid.”