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Lamentations 1
EasyEnglish Bible
Lamentations 1
EasyEnglish Bible
The prophet speaks
1 The city that was full of people is lonely now.
The city is like the wife of a dead husband.
Once she was great.
She was like a queen among the other places in the country.
Now she is a slave.[a]
2 She weeps in the night
and there are tears on her face.
Not one of her lovers comforts her.
All her friends have left her.
They have gone against her and they are now her enemies.[b]
3 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.
4 Zion's streets are sad places now.[c]
Nobody comes to worship God there any longer.
There is nothing to hear at the city gates.[d]
The priests are sad.
Strangers are cruel to the young women.
The people in Zion are very sad.
5 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.[e]
The enemies took the children away to work as slaves.
6 Zion is not beautiful any longer.
Her leaders are like animals without food.
They are too weak to run from their enemies.
7 Jerusalem's people are in trouble and they are away from their homes now.
So they remember the good things
that they had a long time ago.
When their enemies came, nobody was there with them.
Nobody helped them.
Their enemies laughed when they destroyed Jerusalem.
8 Jerusalem's people have sinned very much.
That is why this city is not clean any longer.
People thought that this city was the best.
Now they think that it is not important.
They see it as it is.
Jerusalem's people make sad noises and they want to hide themselves away.
9 Jerusalem seemed dirty because the people were so bad.
They never thought that the end would be like this.
But their enemies destroyed the city.
They do not have anyone who can comfort them.
God did not listen any longer when they asked for his help.
‘Lord, see our troubles.
See how happy our enemies are,’ the people pray.
10 The enemies have taken away all Jerusalem's valuable things.
Foreign people have walked into God's holy house.
But God had said that people like that must not go in there.
They are not his people.
11 Jerusalem's people are making sad noises.
They are sad as they look for food.
They sell things that they love.
They use them to buy food.
That way, they can keep themselves alive.[f]
‘Lord, see what is happening.
Think about me,
because nobody else does,’ the people pray.
12 ‘Come and really look at me!
All you people who pass me do not show any interest in me.
But you have never seen anything as sad as I am.
The Lord was very angry with me.
So it was the Lord who did this to me.[g]
13 It is like God has sent fire down into our bones to hurt us.
He wants us to turn towards him again,
so he has caused things to be very difficult for us.
All day he causes us to feel lonely and weak.
14 He has caused our sins to seem like something very heavy that lies on our necks.
It makes us weak.
He has let the enemy be very strong.
He let them win against us.
So we cannot beat them.
15 The Lord has let the enemy beat all our strong men.
He brought a big army to fight our young men, and the enemy won that fight.
The Lord God has punished us, like people walk on grapes to break them.[h]
He has let the enemy destroy the people of Judah.
16 We weep because of these things.
Tears run down our faces because God is not with us.
Nobody will help us.
We are the children of this city
and we have nothing now.
The enemy has won.’[i]
17 Zion's people ask for help,
but nobody is their friend.
They are Jacob's children.[j]
But the Lord has said that he will cause their enemies
to come from every country near them.
Those other people think about Jerusalem as they would think about something dirty.[k]
18 ‘The Lord is right to punish us.
We have not obeyed him.[l]
Listen, all people everywhere, and look at us.
We are in very bad trouble.
The enemy has taken away our young women
and our young men to be slaves.’
19 ‘We shouted to our friends.
They had said that they would help us.
But they did not help us.
Our priests and our leaders died in the city.
They were looking for food to keep themselves alive.
20 Look, Lord, we are in a lot of trouble.
We are very sad.
We are weak deep inside ourselves
because we have done so many bad things.
They are killing our people in the streets.
People are dying in the houses.’[m]
21 ‘Everybody knows that we are very sad.
Nobody wants to help us.
All our enemies know about our trouble.
They are happy, God, that you caused that trouble.
Please cause trouble for those enemies too, as you promised.
22 You know that they have done many bad things.
Punish them as you have punished us.
You punished us because we did many bad things.
Now we are ashamed and we are very sad.’
Footnotes
- 1:1 God made Jerusalem great and important. So he can stop it being great or important. He will stop it if the people go against him. In Isaiah 47:1-11 and Revelation 18:1-8, he says that he will do this to another city, Babylon.
- 1:2 Many people had always come to Jerusalem. They do not come any longer. God took their friends away so that Jerusalem's people would turn back to him. See how very sad Jeremiah is: Jeremiah 9:1.
- 1:4 Zion is another name for Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the capital city of the country called Judah.
- 1:4 The leaders always met at the city gate to talk together. See Lamentations 5:14.
- 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.
- 1:11 The city's people speak like one person
- 1:12 The city's people speak
- 1:15 People walk on grapes to make wine. This means that the Lord caused trouble and pain for the people. He was punishing them. But he also did it to teach them. He wanted them to change.
- 1:16 Jeremiah speaks again
- 1:17 Jacob was the ancestor of all the Israelites. The Bible sometimes uses the name Jacob to mean all God's people, the Israelites. God often saved the Israelites from troubles. Now they are in trouble because they have turned against God.
- 1:17 Verses 18-22 The city's people speak again.
- 1:18 When God causes trouble, he causes it for a reason. People should know that he is right. Some people might say that he is wrong. If they say that, they do not understand either him or themselves. See 2 Chronicles 12:5-6.
- 1:20 Jerusalem's people are talking to God, (see verses 20-22). It helps people to know that God sees all their troubles. God thinks about their troubles because he loves them. He will even cause good things to be the result of bad things.
Lamentations 1
New International Version
Lamentations 1
New International Version
1 [a]How deserted(A) lies the city,
once so full of people!(B)
How like a widow(C) is she,
who once was great(D) among the nations!
She who was queen among the provinces
has now become a slave.(E)
2 Bitterly she weeps(F) at night,
tears are on her cheeks.
Among all her lovers(G)
there is no one to comfort her.
All her friends have betrayed(H) her;
they have become her enemies.(I)
3 After affliction and harsh labor,
Judah has gone into exile.(J)
She dwells among the nations;
she finds no resting place.(K)
All who pursue her have overtaken her(L)
in the midst of her distress.
4 The roads to Zion mourn,(M)
for no one comes to her appointed festivals.
All her gateways are desolate,(N)
her priests groan,
her young women grieve,
and she is in bitter anguish.(O)
5 Her foes have become her masters;
her enemies are at ease.
The Lord has brought her grief(P)
because of her many sins.(Q)
Her children have gone into exile,(R)
captive before the foe.(S)
6 All the splendor has departed
from Daughter Zion.(T)
Her princes are like deer
that find no pasture;
in weakness they have fled(U)
before the pursuer.
7 In the days of her affliction and wandering
Jerusalem remembers all the treasures
that were hers in days of old.
When her people fell into enemy hands,
there was no one to help her.(V)
Her enemies looked at her
and laughed(W) at her destruction.
8 Jerusalem has sinned(X) greatly
and so has become unclean.(Y)
All who honored her despise her,
for they have all seen her naked;(Z)
she herself groans(AA)
and turns away.
9 Her filthiness clung to her skirts;
she did not consider her future.(AB)
Her fall(AC) was astounding;
there was none to comfort(AD) her.
“Look, Lord, on my affliction,(AE)
for the enemy has triumphed.”
10 The enemy laid hands
on all her treasures;(AF)
she saw pagan nations
enter her sanctuary(AG)—
those you had forbidden(AH)
to enter your assembly.
11 All her people groan(AI)
as they search for bread;(AJ)
they barter their treasures for food
to keep themselves alive.
“Look, Lord, and consider,
for I am despised.”
12 “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?(AK)
Look around and see.
Is any suffering like my suffering(AL)
that was inflicted on me,
that the Lord brought on me
in the day of his fierce anger?(AM)
13 “From on high he sent fire,
sent it down into my bones.(AN)
He spread a net(AO) for my feet
and turned me back.
He made me desolate,(AP)
faint(AQ) all the day long.
14 “My sins have been bound into a yoke[b];(AR)
by his hands they were woven together.
They have been hung on my neck,
and the Lord has sapped my strength.
He has given me into the hands(AS)
of those I cannot withstand.
15 “The Lord has rejected
all the warriors in my midst;(AT)
he has summoned an army(AU) against me
to[c] crush my young men.(AV)
In his winepress(AW) the Lord has trampled(AX)
Virgin Daughter(AY) Judah.
16 “This is why I weep
and my eyes overflow with tears.(AZ)
No one is near to comfort(BA) me,
no one to restore my spirit.
My children are destitute
because the enemy has prevailed.”(BB)
17 Zion stretches out her hands,(BC)
but there is no one to comfort her.
The Lord has decreed for Jacob
that his neighbors become his foes;(BD)
Jerusalem has become
an unclean(BE) thing(BF) among them.
18 “The Lord is righteous,(BG)
yet I rebelled(BH) against his command.
Listen, all you peoples;
look on my suffering.(BI)
My young men and young women
have gone into exile.(BJ)
19 “I called to my allies(BK)
but they betrayed me.
My priests and my elders
perished(BL) in the city
while they searched for food
to keep themselves alive.
20 “See, Lord, how distressed(BM) I am!
I am in torment(BN) within,
and in my heart I am disturbed,(BO)
for I have been most rebellious.(BP)
Outside, the sword bereaves;
inside, there is only death.(BQ)
Footnotes
- Lamentations 1:1 This chapter is an acrostic poem, the verses of which begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
- Lamentations 1:14 Most Hebrew manuscripts; many Hebrew manuscripts and Septuagint He kept watch over my sins
- Lamentations 1:15 Or has set a time for me / when he will
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