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The Sorrows of Zion

^1 (F1)How ^(C1)solitary and lonely sits the city Jerusalem
That was once ^(C2)full of people!
How like a ^(C3)widow she has become.
She who was ^(C4)great among the nations!
The princess among the provinces,
Has become a ^(C5)forced laborer!

² She ^(C1)weeps bitterly in the night
And her tears are constantly on her cheeks;
Among all her ^(C2)lovers (political allies)
She has no one to comfort her.
All her friends have ^(C3)dealt treacherously with her;
They have become her enemies. ^(VR1)

^3 (C1)Judah has gone into exile under affliction
And under harsh servitude;
She dwells ^(C2)among the pagan nations,
But she has found no rest;
All ^(C3)her pursuers have overtaken her
In the midst of her distress.

⁴ The roads to Zion are in mourning
Because ^(C1)no one comes to the appointed feasts.
All her gates are ^(C2)desolate;
Her priests are groaning,
Her ^(C3)virgins are grieved and suffering,
And she suffers ^(C4)bitterly.

⁵ Her adversaries have become her masters,
Her enemies prosper;
For the LORD has ^(C1)caused her grief
Because of the multitude of her transgressions;
Her young children have gone
Into captivity before the enemy. ^(VR1)

⁶ All her ^(C1)beauty and majesty
Have departed from the Daughter of Zion (Jerusalem).
Her princes have become like deer
That have found no pasture;
They have ^(C2)fled without strength
Before the pursuer.

⁷ In the days of her affliction and homelessness
^(C1)Jerusalem remembers all her precious things
That she had from the days of old,
When her people fell into the hand of the adversary,
And ^(C2)no one helped her,
The enemy saw her,
They ^(C3)mocked at her downfall.

⁸ Jerusalem sinned ^(C1)greatly;
Therefore ^(C2)she has become an unclean thing and has been removed.
All who honored her now despise her
Because they have seen her nakedness;
Even ^(C3)she herself groans and turns her face away.

⁹ Her (ceremonial) ^(C1)uncleanness was on her skirts;
She did not seriously consider her ^(C2)future.
Therefore she has ^(C3)come down from throne to slavery in an astonishing manner;
^(C4)She has no comforter.
"O LORD" cries Jerusalem, "^(C5)look at my affliction,
For the enemy has ^(C6)magnified himself in triumph!"

¹⁰ The adversary has spread out his hand
Over all her precious and desirable things;
For she has seen the Gentile ^(C1)nations enter her sanctuary (the Jerusalem temple)—
^(F1)The ones whom You commanded
That they should ^(C2)not enter into Your congregation not even in the outer courts. ^(VR1)

¹¹ All her people groan, ^(C1)seeking bread;
They have exchanged their desirable and precious things for food
To ^(C2)restore their lives.
"See, O LORD, and consider
How ^(C3)despised and repulsive I have become!"

¹² "Is ^(C1)it nothing to you, all you who pass this way?
Look and see if there is any pain like my pain
Which was severely dealt out to me,
Which the ^(C2)LORD has inflicted on me on the day of His ^(C3)fierce anger.

¹³ "From on high He sent fire into my ^(C1)bones,
And it prevailed over them.
He has spread a ^(C2)net for my feet;
He has turned me back.
He has made me ^(C3)desolate and hopelessly miserable,
Faint all the day long.

¹⁴ "The ^(C1)yoke of my transgressions is bound;
By His hand they are knit and woven together.
They have ^(C2)come upon my neck.
He has made my strength fail;
The Lord ^(C3)has put me into the hand
Of those against whom I cannot stand. ^(VR1)

¹⁵ "The ^(C1)Lord has rejected all the strong men
In my midst;
He has proclaimed an established time against me
To crush my ^(C2)young men.
The Lord has ^(C3)trampled down as in a wine press
The Virgin Daughter of Judah.

¹⁶ "I ^(C1)weep for these things;
My eyes overflow with tears,
Because a ^(C2)comforter,
One who could restore my soul, is far away from me.
My children are desolate and perishing,
For the enemy has prevailed." ^(VR1)

¹⁷ Zion ^(C1)stretches out her hands,
But there is no comforter for her.
The LORD has ^(C2)commanded concerning Jacob
That his neighbors should be his enemies;
^(C3)Jerusalem has become a filthy thing an object of contempt among them.

¹⁸ "The LORD is ^(C1)righteous and just;
For I have ^(C2)rebelled against His commandment (His word).
Hear now, all you peoples,
And ^(C3)look at my pain;
^(C4)My virgins and my young men
Have gone into captivity.

¹⁹ "I Jerusalem ^(C1)called to my lovers (political allies), but they deceived me.
My ^(C2)priests and my elders perished in the city
While they looked for food to ^(C3)restore their strength.

²⁰ "See, O LORD, how distressed I am!
My ^(C1)spirit is deeply disturbed;
My heart is overturned within me and cannot rest,
For I have been very ^(C2)rebellious.
In the street the sword kills and bereaves;
In the house there is famine, disease and death!

²¹ "People have heard that I ^(C1)groan,
That I have no comforter in You.
All my enemies have heard of my desperation;
They are ^(C2)delighted O LORD that You have done it.
Oh, that You would bring the day of judgment which You have proclaimed
So that they will become ^(C3)like me. ^(VR1)

²² "Let all their wickedness come before You;
And ^(C1)deal with them as You have dealt with me
Because of all my transgressions;
For my groans are many and my heart is faint."