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The enemies have taken Judah's people away as slaves.
The slaves have only trouble and difficult work.
They now live among strangers.
They have no rest, and they live far away from home.
They cannot go away from those who do cruel things to them.
Zion's streets are sad places now.[a]
Nobody comes to worship God there any longer.
There is nothing to hear at the city gates.[b]
The priests are sad.
Strangers are cruel to the young women.
The people in Zion are very sad.
The people's enemies rule them now.
Those who hate them have plenty.
The Lord has caused trouble for the people
because they did so many wrong things.[c]
The enemies took the children away to work as slaves.

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Footnotes

  1. 1:4 Zion is another name for Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the capital city of the country called Judah.
  2. 1:4 The leaders always met at the city gate to talk together. See Lamentations 5:14.
  3. 1:5 When we write Lord like this, it is a special name for God. Sometimes people write it as ‘Yahweh’, or as ‘Jehovah’. It is his own name that he told Moses. See Exodus 3:14. It means ‘I am who I am’. This shows that God has always been there and he always will be there.