I.
The first lamentation — a lamentation over the desolation of the holy city
1:1-22
A.
Her distressing circumstances
vv. 1-11
Lam. 1
:1
1:1
1How the city sits alone
That was full of people!
She who was
once great among the nations
Has become like a widow;
She who was a princess among the provinces
Has become tributary.
Lam. 1
:2
1:2
Bitterly she weeps in the night,
And her tears are on her cheeks.
There is no one to
acomfort her
Among all her lovers;
All her friends have dealt treacherously with her;
They have become her enemies.
Lam. 1
:3
1:3
aJudah has gone into exile, away from affliction
And away from great servitude;
She dwells among the
bnations But finds no rest;
All her pursuers have overtaken her
In the midst of distress.
Lam. 1
:4
1:4
The ways of Zion mourn,
For no one comes to the appointed feast;
All her gates are desolate;
Her priests groan;
Her virgins are afflicted,
And she is in bitterness.
Lam. 1
:5
1:5
Her adversaries have become the
ahead;
Her enemies prosper;
For Jehovah has afflicted her
Because of the multitude of her transgressions;
Her little ones have gone into
bcaptivity Before the adversary.
Lam. 1
:6
1:6
And all her majesty has departed
From the daughter of Zion;
Her princes have become like deer
That find no pasture,
And they have fled without strength
Before the pursuer.
Lam. 1
:7
1:7
In the days of her affliction and her
1wanderings,
Jerusalem remembers
All her precious things
Which were in the days of old,
When her people fell into the hand of the adversary,
And there was no one to help her.
The adversaries saw her;
They mocked at her downfall.
Lam. 1
:8
1:8
Jerusalem has
asinned grievously;
Therefore she has become an impurity.
All who honored her despise her,
Because they have seen her nakedness;
And she groans
And turns backwards.
Lam. 1
:9
1:9
Her uncleanness is in her skirts;
She did not remember her latter end;
Therefore she has come down astonishingly;
There is no one to
acomfort her.
O Jehovah, see my affliction,
For the enemy has magnified himself.
Lam. 1
:10
1:10
The adversary has spread out his hand
Over all her precious things,
For she has seen the nations
Enter her
asanctuary,
Concerning whom You commanded that they should not enter
Into Your
bassembly.
Lam. 1
:11
1:11
All her people groan;
They have given their precious things for food
To restore their soul.
See, O Jehovah, and look,
For I have become despised.
B.
Her entreating the sympathy of the passers-by
vv. 12-19
Lam. 1
:12
1:12
Is it nothing to you, all who pass by the way?
Look and see
If there is any pain like my pain
Which is dealt to me,
Whom Jehovah has afflicted
In the day of His burning anger.
Lam. 1
:13
1:13
He has sent fire from on high
Into my bones, and it prevails
against them;
He has spread out a net for my feet;
He has turned me back;
He has made me a desolation
And faint all the day.
Lam. 1
:14
1:14
The yoke of my transgressions is bound by His hand;
They are knit together;
They have come up upon my neck;
He has made my strength fail;
The Lord has delivered me into hands
From which I am not able to rise up.
Lam. 1
:15
1:15
The Lord has made light of all my mighty men
In my midst;
He has called an assembly against me
To crush my young men.
The Lord has trodden,
as in a
awinepress,
The virgin daughter of Judah.
Lam. 1
:16
1:16
For these things I weep;
My eye, my
aeye runs down with water,
For the comforter who should revive my soul
Is far from me;
My children have become desolate,
Because the enemy has prevailed.
Lam. 1
:17
1:17
Zion stretches out her hands,
Yet there is no one to
acomfort her.
Jehovah has commanded concerning Jacob
That those around him should be his adversaries;
Jerusalem has become an impurity
Among them.
Lam. 1
:18
1:18
Jehovah is righteous,
For I have rebelled against His commandment.
Hear now, all the peoples,
And see my pain;
My virgins and my young men
Have gone into captivity.
Lam. 1
:19
1:19
I have called to my lovers;
They have deceived me;
My priests and my elders
Have perished in the city,
While they sought food for themselves
To restore their souls.
C.
Her prayer to Jehovah
vv. 20-22
Lam. 1
:20
1:20
See, O Jehovah, for I am in distress,
My bowels are in ferment;
My heart is overturned within me,
For I have been very rebellious.
In the street the sword bereaves;
In the house it is like death.
Lam. 1
:21
1:21
They have heard that I groan;
There is no one to comfort me;
All my enemies have heard of my trouble;
They are glad that You have done
it.
You will bring the day that You have proclaimed,
And they will be like me.
Lam. 1
:22
1:22
Let all their wickedness come before You,
And deal with them
As You have dealt with me
For all my transgressions;
For my sighs are many,
And my heart is faint.
