1How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with darkness in his strong vengeance? he hath cast down from heaven into earth the noble city of Israel; and bethought not on the stool of his feet, in the day of his strong vengeance. (How the Lord hath covered the daughter of Zion with darkness in his strong vengeance! he hath thrown down the glory of Israel from heaven to the earth; and thought not about the stool of his feet, on the day of his strong vengeance.)

2The Lord casted down, and spared not, all the fair things of Jacob; he destroyed in his strong vengeance the strongholds of the virgin of Judah, and casted down into [the] earth; he defouled the realm, and the princes thereof. (The Lord threw down, and spared not, all the beautiful things of Jacob; he destroyed in his strong vengeance the strongholds of the virgin of Judah, and threw them down to the ground; he defiled the kingdom, and its leaders.)

3He brake in the ire of his strong vengeance all the horn of Israel; he turned aback his right hand from the face of the enemy; and he kindled in Jacob, as fire of flame devouring in compass, (or and he kindled against Jacob, like a fire of devouring flame all around it).

4He as an enemy bent his bow, he as an adversary made steadfast his right hand; and he killed all thing that was fair in sight in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion; he shedded out his indignation as fire. (He bent his bow like an enemy, he made steadfast, or firm, his right hand like an adversary; and he killed everything that was beautiful in sight in the tent of the daughter of Zion; he poured out his anger like fire.)

5The Lord is made as an enemy; he casted down Israel, he casted down all the walls thereof; he destroyed the strongholds thereof, and filled in the daughter of Judah a man made low, and a woman made low. (The Lord is made like an enemy; he threw down Israel, he threw down all its walls; he destroyed its strongholds, and filled the daughter of Judah full of men and women who were humbled, or were made low.)

6And he scattered his tent as a garden (or And he plowed under his tent like a garden), (yea), he destroyed his tabernacle; the Lord gave to forgetting in Zion a feast day, and (the) sabbath; and (put) the king and (the) priest into shame, and into the indignation of his strong vengeance.

7The Lord putted away his altar, he cursed his hallowing; he betook into the hands of the enemy the walls of the towers thereof; they gave voice in the house of the Lord, as in a solemn day. (The Lord destroyed his altar, he cursed his sanctuary; he gave into the hands of the enemy the walls of its towers; and the enemy gave his voice in the House of the Lord, like on a feast day.)

8The Lord thought to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion; he stretched forth his cord, and turned not away his hand from perdition; the forewall, either the outer ward, mourned, and the wall was destroyed together (with it).

9The gates thereof be pitched in the earth, he lost and all-brake the bars thereof; the king thereof and the princes thereof (be) among heathen men; the law is not, and the prophets thereof found not of the Lord a vision, either revelation. (Its gates be thrown onto the ground, he destroyed and broke up all its bars, or all its locks; its king and its leaders be put among the heathen; the Law is not, and its prophets cannot find a vision, that is, a revelation, from the Lord.)

10They sat in [the] earth, the eld men of the daughter of Zion were still; they besprinkled their heads with ashes, the elder men of Judah be girt with hair-shirts; the virgins of Judah casted down to the earth their heads. (They sat on the ground, the old men of the daughter of Zion were silent; they sprinkled their heads with ashes, the elders of Judah be girded with hair-shirts; the virgins of Judah cast down their heads to the ground.)

11Mine eyes failed for tears, mine entrails were troubled; my maw was shed out in [the] earth upon the sorrow of the daughter of my people (or my bile was poured out on the ground over the sorrow of the daughter of my people); when a little child and [the] sucking (one) failed in the streets of the city.

12They said to their mothers, Where is wheat, and wine? when they failed as wounded men in the streets of the city, (or They asked their mothers, Where is some corn, and some wine? then they died, wounded in the streets of the city); yea, when they sent out their souls in(to) the bosom of their mothers.

13To whom shall I comparison thee? either to whom shall I liken thee, thou daughter of Jerusalem? to whom shall I make thee even, and shall I comfort thee, thou virgin, the daughter of Zion? for why thy sorrow is(as) great as the sea; who shall do medicine to thee? (To whom shall I compare thee? or to whom shall I liken thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? to whom shall I make thee equal, so that I can comfort thee, O virgin, the daughter of Zion? for thy sorrow is as great as the sea; who shall give medicine to thee?)

14Thy prophets saw to thee false things, and fond; and they opened not thy wickedness, that they should stir thee to penance; but they saw to thee false takings, and castings out. (Thy prophets saw false and foolish things for thee; and they told not about thy wickedness, so that they could stir thee to penance; but they saw for thee false burdens, and castings out, or causes of banishment.)

15All men passing on the way clapped with hands on thee; they hissed, and moved their head on the daughter of Jerusalem; and said, This is the city of perfect fairness, the joy of all (the) earth. (All those passing on the way clapped with their hands at thee; they hissed, and shook their heads over the daughter of Jerusalem; and said, Is this the city that once was so perfect in beauty, yea, the joy of all the earth?)

16All thine enemies opened their mouth on thee; they hissed, and gnashed with their teeth, and said, We shall devour; lo! this is the day which we abided, we found, we saw. (All thy enemies opened their mouths against thee; they hissed, and gnashed with their teeth, and said, We shall devour thee; lo! this is the day which we have waited for; now it hath arrived, and we have seen it happen!)

17The Lord did those things which he thought, he [ful] filled his word which he had commanded from [the] eld days; he destroyed, and spared not; and made glad the enemy on thee (or and let the enemy rejoice over thee); and enhanced the horn of thine enemies.

18The heart of them cried to the Lord, on the walls of the daughter of Zion; lead thou forth tears as a strand, by day and night, (or lead thou forth tears like a stream, both day and night); give thou not rest to thee, neither the apple of thine eye be still.

19Rise thou together, praise thou in the night, in the beginning of wakings; shed out thine heart as water, before the sight of the Lord, (or Rise thou up, praise thou in the night, at the beginning of every watch; pour out thy heart like water, before the Lord); raise thine hands to him for the souls of thy little children, that failed for hunger in the head of all (the) meetings of (the) ways.

20See thou, Lord, and behold, whom thou hast made so bare; therefore whether women shall eat their fruit, (their) little children at the measure of an hand? for a priest and prophet is slain in the saintuary of the Lord. (See thou, Lord, and behold, they whom thou hast made so bare; and so shall women eat their own fruit, their own little children at the measure of an hand? shall a priest and a prophet be killed in the Lord’s sanctuary?)

21A child and an eld man lie on the earth withoutforth; my virgins and my young men fell down by sword; thou hast slain them in the day of thy strong vengeance, thou smotest and didest no mercy. (A child and an old man lie on the ground outside; my virgins and my young men fell down by the sword; thou hast killed them on the day of thy strong vengeance, thou struck them down, and showed no mercy.)

22Thou calledest, as to a solemn day, them that made me afeared of compass; and none was that escaped in the day of the strong vengeance of the Lord, and was left; mine enemy wasted them, which I fed, and nourished up. (Thou hast called, like to a feast day, those all around me who made me afraid; and there was no one who escaped on the day of the strong vengeance of the Lord, and was left alive; my enemy destroyed all of them, whom I had fed, and nourished.)