Study Desk

How the Lord has ^(F1)(C1)covered the daughter of Zion With a cloud in His anger! He has ^(C2)hurled The ^(C3)glory of Israel from heaven to earth, And has not remembered His ^(C4)footstool In the day of His anger.

The Lord has ^(F1)(C1)destroyed; He has not spared All the settlements of Jacob. In His wrath He has ^(C2)overthrown The strongholds of the daughter of Judah, He has ^(C3)hurled them down to the ground; He has ^(C4)profaned the kingdom and its leaders.

In fierce anger He has cut off ^(F1)All the ^(C1)strength of Israel; He has ^(C2)pulled back His right hand From the enemy. And He has ^(C3)burned in Jacob like a flaming fire Consuming on all sides.

He has bent His ^(C1)bow like an enemy; His right hand is positioned like an adversary, And He has killed everything that was ^(C2)pleasant to the eye. In the tent of the daughter of Zion He has ^(C3)poured out His wrath like fire.

The Lord has become like an ^(C1)enemy. He has ^(C2)engulfed Israel; He has engulfed all its ^(C3)palaces, He has destroyed its strongholds And ^(C4)caused great mourning and grieving in the daughter of Judah.

And He has treated His ^(F1)tabernacle violently, like a despised garden; He has ^(C1)destroyed His appointed ^(F2)meeting place. The LORD has ^(C2)caused The appointed feast and Sabbath in Zion to be forgotten, And He has ^(C3)despised king and priest In the indignation of His anger.

The Lord has ^(C1)rejected His altar, He has ^(F1)repudiated His sanctuary; He ^(C2)has handed over The walls of her palaces to the enemy. They have made a ^(C3)noise in the house of the LORD As on the day of an appointed feast.

The LORD determined to destroy The wall of the daughter of Zion. He has ^(C1)stretched out a line, He has not restrained His hand from ^(F1)destroying, And He has ^(C2)caused rampart and wall to mourn; They have languished together.

Her ^(C1)gates have sunk into the ground, He has destroyed and broken her bars. Her king and her leaders are among the nations; The ^(C2)Law is gone. Her prophets, too, find ^(C3)No vision from the LORD.

The elders of the daughter of Zion ^(C1)Sit on the ground and ^(F1)(C2)are silent. They have thrown ^(C3)dust on their heads; They have put on ^(C4)sackcloth. The ^(C5)virgins of Jerusalem Have bowed their heads to the ground.

My ^(C1)eyes fail because of tears, My ^(F1)(C2)spirit is greatly troubled; My ^(F2)(C3)heart is poured out on the earth ^(C4)Because of the ^(F3)destruction of the daughter of my people, When ^(C5)little ones and infants languish In the streets of the city.

They say to their mothers, "^(C1)Where is grain and wine?" As they faint like a wounded person In the streets of the city, As their ^(C2)lives are poured out ^(F1)In their mothers' arms.

How shall I admonish you? What ^(C1)shall I compare to you, Daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I liken to you as I comfort you, ^(C2)Virgin daughter of Zion? For your collapse is as vast as the sea; Who can ^(C3)heal you?

Your ^(C1)prophets have seen for you Worthless and deceptive visions; And they have not ^(C2)exposed your wrongdoing So as to restore you from captivity, But they have ^(C3)seen for you worthless and misleading pronouncements.

All who pass along the way ^(C1)Clap their hands in ridicule at you; They ^(C2)(F1)hiss and shake their heads At the daughter of Jerusalem: "Is this the city of which they said, '^(C3)Perfect in beauty, ^(C4)A joy to all the earth'?"

All ^(C1)your enemies Have opened their mouths wide against you; They ^(F1)hiss and ^(C2)gnash their teeth. They say, "We have ^(C3)engulfed her! This certainly is the ^(C4)day which we awaited; We have reached it, we have seen it!"

The LORD has ^(C1)done what He determined; He has accomplished His word Which He commanded from days of old. He has torn down ^(C2)without sparing, And He has helped the enemy to ^(C3)rejoice over you; He has ^(C4)exalted the ^(F1)might of your adversaries.

Their ^(C1)heart cried out to the Lord: "You ^(C2)wall of the daughter of Zion, Let your ^(C3)tears stream down like a river day and night; Give yourself no relief, Let ^(F1)your eyes have no rest.

-"Arise, whimper in the ^(C1)night At the beginning of the night watches; ^(C2)Pour out your heart like water Before the presence of the Lord; Raise your hands to Him For the ^(C3)life of your little ones Who ^(C4)languish because of hunger At the head of every street.

-"See, LORD, and look! With ^(C1)whom have You dealt this way? Should women really ^(C2)eat their ^(F1)children, The little ones who were ^(F2)born healthy? Should ^(C3)priest and prophet really be killed In the sanctuary of the Lord?

-"On the ground in the streets Lie ^(C1)young and old; My ^(C2)virgins and my young men Have fallen by the sword. You have put them to death on the day of Your anger, You have slaughtered, ^(C3)without sparing.

-"You called as on the day of an appointed feast My ^(C1)terrors on every side; And there was ^(C2)no one who survived or escaped On the day of the LORD'S anger. As for those ^(C3)whom I brought forth healthy and whom I raised, My enemy annihilated them."