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Lamentations 1
New King James Version

### Jerusalem in Affliction

1 How lonely sits the city
That was full of people!
(A)How like a widow is she,
Who was great among the nations!
The (B)princess among the provinces
Has become a [a]slave!

2 She (C)weeps bitterly in the (D)night,
Her tears are on her cheeks;
Among all her lovers
She has none to comfort her.
All her friends have dealt treacherously with her;
They have become her enemies.

3 (E)Judah has gone into captivity,
Under affliction and hard servitude;
(F)She dwells among the [b]nations,
She finds no (G)rest;
All her persecutors overtake her in dire straits.

4 The roads to Zion mourn
Because no one comes to the [c]set feasts.
All her gates are (H)desolate;
Her priests sigh,
Her virgins are afflicted,
And she is in bitterness.

5 Her adversaries (I)have become [d]the master,
Her enemies prosper;
For the Lord has afflicted her
(J)Because of the multitude of her transgressions.
Her (K)children have gone into captivity before the enemy.

6 And from the daughter of Zion
All her splendor has departed.
Her princes have become like deer
That find no pasture,
That [e]flee without strength
Before the pursuer.

7 In the days of her affliction and roaming,
Jerusalem (L)remembers all her pleasant things
That she had in the days of old.
When her people fell into the hand of the enemy,
With no one to help her,
The adversaries saw her
And mocked at her [f]downfall.

8 (M)Jerusalem has sinned gravely,
Therefore she has become [g]vile.
All who honored her despise her
Because (N)they have seen her nakedness;
Yes, she sighs and turns away.

9 Her uncleanness is in her skirts;
She (O)did not consider her destiny;
Therefore her collapse was awesome;
She had no comforter.
“O Lord, behold my affliction,
For the enemy is exalted!”

10 The adversary has spread his hand
Over all her [h]pleasant things;
For she has seen (P)the nations enter her [i]sanctuary,
Those whom You commanded
(Q)Not to enter Your assembly.

11 All her people sigh,
(R)They [j]seek bread;
They have given their [k]valuables for food to restore life.
“See, O Lord, and consider,
For I am scorned.”

12 “Is it nothing to you, all you who [l]pass by?
Behold and see
(S)If there is any sorrow like my sorrow,
Which has been brought on me,
Which the Lord has inflicted
In the day of His fierce anger.

13 “From above He has sent fire into my bones,
And it overpowered them;
He has (T)spread a net for my feet
And turned me back;
He has made me desolate
And faint all the day.

14 “The(U) yoke of my transgressions was [m]bound;
They were woven together by His hands,
And thrust upon my neck.
He made my strength fail;
The Lord delivered me into the hands of those whom I am not able to withstand.

15 “The Lord has trampled underfoot all my mighty men in my midst;
He has called an assembly against me
To crush my young men;
(V)The Lord trampled as in a winepress
The virgin daughter of Judah.

16 “For these things I weep;
My eye, (W)my eye overflows with water;
Because the comforter, who should restore my life,
Is far from me.
My children are desolate
Because the enemy prevailed.”

17 (X)Zion [n]spreads out her hands,
But no one comforts her;
The Lord has commanded concerning Jacob
That those (Y)around him become his adversaries;
Jerusalem has become an unclean thing among them.

18 “The Lord is (Z)righteous,
For I (AA)rebelled against His [o]commandment.
Hear now, all peoples,
And behold my sorrow;
My virgins and my young men
Have gone into captivity.

19 “I called for my lovers,
But they deceived me;
My priests and my elders
Breathed their last in the city,
While they sought food
To restore their life.

20 “See, O Lord, that I am in distress;
My (AB)soul[p] is troubled;
My heart is overturned within me,
For I have been very rebellious.
(AC)Outside the sword bereaves,
At home it is like death.

21 “They have heard that I sigh,
But no one comforts me.
All my enemies have heard of my trouble;
They are (AD)glad that You have done it.
Bring on (AE)the day You have [q]announced,
That they may become like me.

22 “Let(AF) all their wickedness come before You,
And do to them as You have done to me
For all my transgressions;
For my sighs are many,
And my heart is faint.”

#### Footnotes

1. Lamentations 1:1 Lit. forced laborer
2. Lamentations 1:3 Gentiles
3. Lamentations 1:4 appointed
4. Lamentations 1:5 Lit. her head
5. Lamentations 1:6 Lit. are gone
6. Lamentations 1:7 Vg. Sabbaths
7. Lamentations 1:8 LXX, Vg. moved or removed
8. Lamentations 1:10 desirable
9. Lamentations 1:10 holy place, the temple
10. Lamentations 1:11 hunt food
11. Lamentations 1:11 desirable things
12. Lamentations 1:12 Lit. pass by this way
13. Lamentations 1:14 So with MT, Tg.; LXX, Syr., Vg. watched over
14. Lamentations 1:17 Prays
15. Lamentations 1:18 Lit. mouth
16. Lamentations 1:20 Lit. inward parts
17. Lamentations 1:21 proclaimed

#### Cross references

1. Lamentations 1:1 : Is. 47:7–9
2. Lamentations 1:1 : 1 Kin. 4:21; Ezra 4:20; Jer. 31:7
3. Lamentations 1:2 : Jer. 13:17
4. Lamentations 1:2 : Job 7:3
5. Lamentations 1:3 : Jer. 52:27
6. Lamentations 1:3 : Lam. 2:9
7. Lamentations 1:3 : Deut. 28:65
8. Lamentations 1:4 : Is. 27:10
9. Lamentations 1:5 : Deut. 28:43
10. Lamentations 1:5 : Jer. 30:14, 15; Dan. 9:7, 16
11. Lamentations 1:5 : Jer. 52:28
12. Lamentations 1:7 : Ps. 137:1
13. Lamentations 1:8 : [1 Kin. 8:46]
14. Lamentations 1:8 : Jer. 13:22; Ezek. 16:37; Hos. 2:10
15. Lamentations 1:9 : Deut. 32:29; Is. 47:7; Jer. 5:31
16. Lamentations 1:10 : Ps. 74:4–8; Is. 64:10, 11; Jer. 51:51
17. Lamentations 1:10 : Deut. 23:3; Neh. 13:1
18. Lamentations 1:11 : Jer. 38:9; 52:6
19. Lamentations 1:12 : Dan. 9:12
20. Lamentations 1:13 : Ezek. 12:13; 17:20
21. Lamentations 1:14 : Deut. 28:48
22. Lamentations 1:15 : Is. 63:3; [Rev. 14:19]
23. Lamentations 1:16 : Ps. 69:20; Eccl. 4:1; Jer. 13:17; Lam. 2:18
24. Lamentations 1:17 : [Is. 1:15]; Jer. 4:31
25. Lamentations 1:17 : 2 Kin. 24:2–4; Jer. 12:9
26. Lamentations 1:18 : Neh. 9:33; Ps. 119:75; Dan. 9:7, 14
27. Lamentations 1:18 : 1 Sam. 12:14, 15; Jer. 4:17
28. Lamentations 1:20 : Job 30:27; Is. 16:11; Jer. 4:19; Lam. 2:11; Hos. 11:8
29. Lamentations 1:20 : Deut. 32:25; Ezek. 7:15
30. Lamentations 1:21 : Ps. 35:15; Jer. 48:27; 50:11; Lam. 2:15; Obad. 12
31. Lamentations 1:21 : Is. 13; [Jer. 46]
32. Lamentations 1:22 : Neh. 4:4, 5; Ps. 109:15; 137:7, 8; Jer. 30:16

New King James Version (NKJV)

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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