1 Voi! Vihansa pilveen Herra on peittänyt tytär Siionin! Taivaasta maahan hän heitti sinut, Israelin kruunun. Vihansa päivänä hän ei säästänyt koroketta, joka on hänen valtaistuimensa edessä.

2 Herra tuhosi säälimättä kaikki Jaakobin asuinsijat, vihassaan hän repi raunioiksi Juudan linnoitukset, hajotti ne maahan. Herra häpäisi kuningaskunnan ja sen ruhtinaat.

3 Vihasta hehkuen hän mursi Israelin voiman ja vallan, hän veti pois suojelevan kätensä, kun vihollinen saapui. Hän poltti Jaakobin kuin liekehtivä tuli, joka nielee kaiken.

4 Hän jännitti jousensa kuin vihollinen, valmiina ampumaan nuolen. Kuin vihamies hän tappoi kaiken, mistä silmä oli iloinnut. Kiivaudessaan hän sytytti tuleen Siionin tyttären majan.

5 Herra oli kuin vihollinen, hän teki lopun Israelista, hävitti kaikki sen palatsit, tuhosi sen linnoitukset. Hän täytti Juudan surulla ja murheella.

6 Oman majansa hän tuhosi, hävitti puutarhansa, löi maan tasalle pyhäkkönsä. Juhlapäivän ja sapatin hän antoi unohtua Siionissa. Kauhistuttavassa vihassaan hän hylkäsi kuninkaan ja papit.

7 Myös oman alttarinsa hän jätti, hylkäsi temppelinsä. Hän antoi vihollisen käsiin palatsit ja muurit. Silloin kaikui Herran huoneessa melu ja meteli kuin juhlapäivänä ikään.

8 Herra oli päättänyt hävittää Siionin muurit. Tarkoin hän tiesi, mitä teki. Ei hän vetänyt kättään tuhoamasta: valli ja muuri itkivät kohtaloaan, yhdessä ne sortuivat.

9 Portit ovat kaatuneet maahan, hän särki niiden salvat. Kuningas ja ruhtinaat ovat vieraalla maalla, enää ei opeteta Jumalan lakia, enää eivät profeetat saa näkyjä Herralta.

10 Maassa istuvat vaiti Siionin vanhimmat. He sirottelevat multaa hiuksiinsa, pukeutuvat säkkivaatteeseen. Maahan painavat päänsä Jerusalemin nuoret tytöt.

11 Silmäni riutuvat kyynelistä, sisintäni polttaa tuska. Voimani valuvat maahan kansani sortumisen tähden. Lapset ja imeväiset nääntyvät kaupungin kaduilla.

13 Mitä minä sanoisin sinulle, tytär Jerusalem, mihin vertaisin sinua? Kenen kohtaloa muistuttaa sinun kohtalosi, Siion, mistä löydän lohdutuksen sanat? Suuri kuin meri on sinun vammasi, kuka voi parantaa sinut?

14 Profeettojesi näyt olivat petosta ja harhaa. Syntiäsi he eivät paljastaneet, eivät kääntäneet kohtaloasi. Vääriä ja eksyttäviä olivat heidän ennussanansa.

17 Herra teki sen, minkä oli aikonut, hän toteutti sanansa, jonka oli ilmoittanut jo kauan sitten. Säälimättä hän hajotti sinut, antoi vihollisillesi riemuvoiton, vihamiehillesi täyden vallan.

18 Huutakaa Herraa, huutakaa sydämenne pohjasta, te Siionin muurit! Anna kyyneltesi virrata kuin puro päivät ja yöt, vailla hetkenkään lepoa, Siion! Älkööt silmäsi kuivuko.

19 Nouse, huuda ja valita yöllä, jokaisen vartiovuoron aikaan. Vuodata sydämesi tuska Herran kasvojen eteen. Kohota kätesi häntä kohti lastesi elämän puolesta. Heitä viruu joka kadunkulmassa, he nääntyvät nälkään.

22 Kaikki, joita sydämeni kauhistuu, sinä kutsuit tänne kuin juhlaan. Herran vihan päivänä ei ollut pelastunutta, kukaan ei päässyt pakoon. Voi lapsiani, jotka synnytin ja kasvatin! Vihollinen teki heistä lopun.

1 How has the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger!

He has cast the beauty of Israel down from heaven to the earth,

and hasn’t remembered his footstool in the day of his anger.

2 The Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob

without pity.

He has thrown down in his wrath the strongholds of the daughter of Judah.

He has brought them down to the ground.

He has profaned the kingdom and its princes.

3 He has cut off all the horn of Israel in fierce anger.

He has drawn back his right hand from before the enemy.

He has burned up Jacob like a flaming fire,

which devours all around.

4 He has bent his bow like an enemy.

He has stood with his right hand as an adversary.

He has killed all that were pleasant to the eye.

In the tent of the daughter of Zion, he has poured out his wrath like fire.

5 The Lord has become as an enemy.

He has swallowed up Israel.

He has swallowed up all her palaces.

He has destroyed his strongholds.

He has multiplied mourning and lamentation in the daughter of Judah.

6 He has violently taken away his tabernacle,

as if it were a garden.

He has destroyed his place of assembly.

Yahweh has caused solemn assembly and Sabbath to be forgotten in Zion.

In the indignation of his anger, he has despised the king and the priest.

7 The Lord has cast off his altar.

He has abhorred his sanctuary.

He has given the walls of her palaces into the hand of the enemy.

They have made a noise in Yahweh’s house,

as in the day of a solemn assembly.

8 Yahweh has purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion.

He has stretched out the line.

He has not withdrawn his hand from destroying;

He has made the rampart and wall lament.

They languish together.

9 Her gates have sunk into the ground.

He has destroyed and broken her bars.

Her king and her princes are among the nations where the law is not.

Yes, her prophets find no vision from Yahweh.

10 The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground.

They keep silence.

They have cast up dust on their heads.

They have clothed themselves with sackcloth.

The virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.

11 My eyes fail with tears.

My heart is troubled.

My bile is poured on the earth,

because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,

because the young children and the infants swoon in the streets of the city.

12 They ask their mothers,

"Where is grain and wine?"

when they swoon as the wounded in the streets of the city,

when their soul is poured out into their mothers’ bosom.

13 What shall I testify to you?

What shall I liken to you, daughter of Jerusalem?

What shall I compare to you,

that I may comfort you, virgin daughter of Zion?

For your breach is as big as the sea.

Who can heal you?

14 Your prophets have seen false and foolish visions for you.

They have not uncovered your iniquity,

to reverse your captivity,

but have seen for you false revelations and causes of banishment.

15 All that pass by clap their hands at you.

They hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying,

"Is this the city that men called ‘The perfection of beauty,

the joy of the whole earth’?"

16 All your enemies have opened their mouth wide against you.

They hiss and gnash their teeth.

They say, "We have swallowed her up.

Certainly this is the day that we looked for.

We have found it.

We have seen it."

17 Yahweh has done that which he planned.

He has fulfilled his word that he commanded in the days of old.

He has thrown down,

and has not pitied.

He has caused the enemy to rejoice over you.

He has exalted the horn of your adversaries.

18 Their heart cried to the Lord.

O wall of the daughter of Zion,

let tears run down like a river day and night.

Give yourself no relief.

Don’t let your eyes rest.

19 Arise, cry out in the night,

at the beginning of the watches!

Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord.

Lift up your hands toward him for the life of your young children,

who faint for hunger at the head of every street.

20 "Look, Yahweh, and see to whom you have done thus!

Should the women eat their offspring,

the children that they held and bounced on their knees?

Should the priest and the prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?

21 "The youth and the old man lie on the ground in the streets.

My virgins and my young men have fallen by the sword.

You have killed them in the day of your anger.

You have slaughtered, and not pitied.

22 "You have called, as in the day of a solemn assembly, my terrors on every side.

There was no one that escaped or remained in the day of Yahweh’s anger.

My enemy has consumed those whom I have cared for and brought up.