Lamentations 1 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
Shortly after 586 BC, in the months and years following Babylon's destruction of Jerusalem
Location
The ruins of Jerusalem and the surrounding land of Judah, with survivors scattered and thousands deported to Babylon in what is now Iraq
Audience
Survivors of the fall of Jerusalem, both those left in the ruined land and those taken into exile
Situation
The poem looks at the emptied city and pictures her as a widow sitting alone, once crowded and honoured, now abandoned by her allies and mocked by her enemies. Midway through, the city herself begins to speak, admitting that her suffering follows from her own rebellion.
Key Background
Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar took Jerusalem after a siege of about eighteen months, broke the walls, burned the temple that had stood for roughly four centuries, and deported the ruling class, ending both the kingdom and the worship that had defined national life. The whole poem is an acrostic, with each of its twenty two verses beginning with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet, a form that imposes strict order on grief and works through the loss from beginning to end. Formal city laments over destroyed capitals were an established literary type in Mesopotamia, and this one turns the convention toward a confession of national guilt rather than a complaint against fate.
How she now — the city once overflowing with people. She has become like a widow, she who was great among the nations. The princess among provinces has been put to forced labor.
She through the night, tears streaming down her face. Of all who once loved her, not one comes to comfort her. Every one of her has betrayed her — they've become her enemies.
Judah has gone into exile, ground down by suffering and hard labor. She lives among the nations now but finds no rest. All who hunted her caught her right there in the
The roads to are in mourning — no one comes to the anymore. All her gates stand deserted. Her priests groan. Her young women grieve. And she herself — bitterness is all she tastes.
Her enemies have taken charge; those who hate her thrive. Because himself brought this grief on her for the sheer weight of her rebellions. Her children have been dragged away, captives driven before the enemy.
All her has drained from the of Zion. Her leaders became like deer that can't find pasture — they stumbled along, strengthless, ahead of the hunter.
In the days of her suffering and wandering, Jerusalem all the treasures she had in the old days. When her people fell into enemy hands and no one came to help, her enemies looked on and laughed at her downfall.
Jerusalem's were terrible — that's why she's become something filthy to them. Everyone who once honored her now despises her, because they've seen her and exposed. She herself groans and turns her face away.
to skirts; she never considered how this would end. Her fall was staggering — and no one to comfort her. "Look, Yahweh, look at my suffering! The enemy has triumphed!"
The enemy stretched out his hands over everything she treasured. She watched as foreign nations poured into the for God, the very ones you commanded: "They must never enter your
All her people are groaning, searching for bread. They their for food just to stay alive. "Look, Yahweh — really look. See how worthless I've become."
Does it to you, all who pass by? Look around and see — is there any pain like my pain, the pain inflicted on me, the pain Yahweh brought down on me on the day his erupted?
From above he sent fire down my and it overpowered them. He spread a net for my feet and hurled me backward. He left me devastated, sick with pain all day long.
My rebellions were bound into a — his own hands wove them together. They were draped across my neck and broke my strength completely. The Lord handed me over to those I cannot withstand.
The Lord brushed aside every warrior I had. He called an army against me to crush my young men. The Lord trampled the of Judah like in a
This is why I weep; my my overflow with tears. Because the one who could comfort me, who could restore my life, is far away. My children are devastated because the enemy has won.
Zion stretches out her hands but no one comes to comfort her. Yahweh gave the order against Jacob: "Let his neighbors become his enemies." Jerusalem has become something filthy among them.
is in the — it was I who what he said. Listen, all you peoples, and look at my pain: my young women and young men have been dragged into captivity."
I called out to my allies, but they betrayed me. My and elders collapsed in the city while they searched for food just to stay alive.
"Look, Yahweh — I am crushed. My churns, my is inside me because I have been so deeply rebellious. Outside, the sword takes my children. Inside, it's like death itself."
"They hear me groaning but no one comes to comfort me. All my enemies heard about my disaster — they're glad you did this. Bring on the you promised; let them end up just like me."
"Let all their evil come before your face. Do to them what you've done to me for all my rebellions. My groaning goes on and on, and my is