Lamentations 1:5-15

Her foes have the upper hand while her enemies are now at ease. For YAHWEH has made Jerusalem suffer for her many, many sins. Her young children are taken into captivity as captives before the oppressor. All the splendor has departed from the fair daughter of Zion. Her princes are like deer that find no pasture. Weak and weary they stumble, unable to flee from those who pursue them. In her days of wandering and affliction, Jerusalem still remembers all her precious treasures that were hers from days gone by. When the enemies defeated her people, there was no one to help her. Her conquerors looked on, jeering and cheering at her downfall. Jerusalem has committed a horrible sin and has become an object of scorn. All who once honored her now despise her, for they have seen her nakedness. Shunned, she groans aloud and turns to hide her face in shame. Her filth stains her skirts— she never pictured this outcome. Therefore, her fall is terrible with no one to comfort her. Jerusalem groans, “YAHWEH, look how miserable I am; all the while my enemy gloats!” The enemy has seized all her precious treasures. Before her very eyes she witnessed foreigners enter her holy sanctuary, although you had forbidden them ever to enter your assembly. Everyone is groaning, longing for anything to eat; they have traded their treasures for food in order to keep themselves alive. “Look, YAHWEH, and consider how pathetic I have become! “None who passes by even cares. Turn around and look at me! Is there anyone who suffers as much as I? YAHWEH, in the terrible day of your fierce anger, you punished me worst of all. “From on high, he sent a fire deep in my bones, and it conquered me. He trapped my feet in his snare and hurled me back. He left me stunned in misery that had no end. “YAHWEH took my sins in his hands and tied them into a yoke. Then, he set his yoke upon my neck and caused my strength to fail. The Lord let my enemies defeat me; I am helpless to resist. “The Lord has despised and rejected all the mighty warriors who defended me. He mobilized an army to destroy me and crush my young men. The Lord has trampled like grapes in a winepress the fair daughter of Judah.