Read the Bible

^1 (a)How lonely sits the city
    that was full of people!
How like ^(b)a widow has she become,
    she who was great among the nations!
She who was ^(c)a princess among the provinces
    has become ^(d)a slave.

^2 (e)She weeps bitterly in the night,
    with tears on her cheeks;
^(f)among all her lovers
    she has ^(g)none to comfort her;
^(h)all her friends have dealt treacherously with her;
    they have become her enemies.

^3 (i)Judah has gone into exile because of affliction^[a]
    and hard servitude;
^(j)she dwells now among the nations,
    ^(k)but finds no resting place;
her pursuers have all overtaken her
    in the midst of her distress.^[b]

⁴ The roads to Zion mourn,
    for none come to ^(l)the festival;
^(m)all her gates are desolate;
    her priests ⁽ⁿ⁾groan;
her virgins have been afflicted,^[c]
    and she herself suffers bitterly.

^5 (o)Her foes have become the head;
    her ^(p)enemies prosper,
because ^(q)the Lord has afflicted her
    ^(r)for the multitude of her transgressions;
^(s)her children have gone away,
    captives before the foe.

⁶ From the daughter of Zion
    all her majesty has departed.
Her princes have become like deer
    ^(t)that find no pasture;
they fled without strength
    before the pursuer.

⁷ Jerusalem remembers
    in the days of her affliction and wandering
^(u)all the precious things
    that were hers from ^(v)days of old.
When her people fell into the hand of the foe,
    and there was none to help her,
her foes gloated over her;
    they ^(w)mocked at her downfall.

^8 (x)Jerusalem sinned grievously;
    therefore she became filthy;
all who honored her despise her,
    ^(y)for they have seen her nakedness;
she herself ^(z)groans
    and turns her face away.

⁹ Her uncleanness was ^(aa)in her skirts;
    ^(ab)she took no thought of her future;^[d]
therefore her fall is terrible;
    ^(ac)she has no comforter.
"O Lord, behold my affliction,
    for the enemy has ^(ad)triumphed!"

¹⁰ The enemy has stretched out his hands
    over all her ^(ae)precious things;
for she has seen ^(af)the nations
    enter her sanctuary,
those whom you ^(ag)forbade
    to enter your congregation.

¹¹ All her people ^(ah)groan
    as ^(ai)they search for bread;
they trade their ^(aj)treasures for ^(ak)food
    to revive their strength.
"Look, O Lord, and see,
    for I am despised."

¹² "Is it nothing to you, all ^(al)you who pass by?
    ^(am)Look and see
if there is any sorrow like my sorrow,
    which was brought upon me,
which ^(an)the Lord inflicted
    on ^(ao)the day of his fierce anger.

¹³ "From on high he ^(ap)sent fire;
    into my bones^[e] he made it descend;
^(aq)he spread a net for my feet;
    he turned me back;
^(ar)he has left me stunned,
    faint all the day long.

¹⁴ "My transgressions were bound^[f] into ^(as)a yoke;
    by his hand they were fastened together;
they were set upon my neck;
    he caused my strength to fail;
the Lord gave me into the hands
    of those whom I cannot withstand.

¹⁵ "The Lord rejected
    all my mighty men in my midst;
he summoned an assembly against me
    to crush my young men;
^(at)the Lord has trodden as in a winepress
    the virgin daughter of Judah.

¹⁶ "For these things ^(au)I weep;
    my eyes flow with tears;
for ^(av)a comforter is far from me,
    one to ^(aw)revive my spirit;
my children are desolate,
    for the enemy has prevailed."

^17 (ax)Zion stretches out her hands,
    but ^(ay)there is none to comfort her;
the Lord has commanded against Jacob
    that his neighbors should be his foes;
Jerusalem has become
    a filthy thing among them.

^18 (az)"The Lord is in the right,
    ^(ba)for I have rebelled against his word;
but hear, all you peoples,
    and see my suffering;
^(bb)my young women and my young men
    have gone into captivity.

¹⁹ "I called to ^(bc)my lovers,
    but they deceived me;
my priests and elders
    perished in the city,
while ^(bd)they sought food
    to revive their strength.

²⁰ "Look, O Lord, for I am in distress;
    ^(be)my stomach churns;
my heart is wrung within me,
    because I have been very rebellious.
^(bf)In the street the sword bereaves;
    in the house it is like death.

²¹ "They heard^{[g] (bg)}my groaning,
    yet ^(bh)there is no one to comfort me.
All my enemies have heard of my trouble;
    ^(bi)they are glad that you have done it.
You have brought^[h] the day you announced;
    ^(bj)now let them be as I am.

^22 (bk)"Let all their evildoing come before you,
    and deal with them
as ^(bl)you have dealt with me
    because of all my transgressions;
for ^(bm)my groans are many,
    and ^(bn)my heart is faint."