Lamentations 1:9-16

Her filth stains her skirts— she never pictured this outcome. Therefore, her fall is terrible with no one to comfort her. Jerusalem groans, “YAHWEH, look how miserable I am; all the while my enemy gloats!” The enemy has seized all her precious treasures. Before her very eyes she witnessed foreigners enter her holy sanctuary, although you had forbidden them ever to enter your assembly. Everyone is groaning, longing for anything to eat; they have traded their treasures for food in order to keep themselves alive. “Look, YAHWEH, and consider how pathetic I have become! “None who passes by even cares. Turn around and look at me! Is there anyone who suffers as much as I? YAHWEH, in the terrible day of your fierce anger, you punished me worst of all. “From on high, he sent a fire deep in my bones, and it conquered me. He trapped my feet in his snare and hurled me back. He left me stunned in misery that had no end. “YAHWEH took my sins in his hands and tied them into a yoke. Then, he set his yoke upon my neck and caused my strength to fail. The Lord let my enemies defeat me; I am helpless to resist. “The Lord has despised and rejected all the mighty warriors who defended me. He mobilized an army to destroy me and crush my young men. The Lord has trampled like grapes in a winepress the fair daughter of Judah. “This is why I weep bitterly, as tears stream down my cheeks. Truly, no one is here to comfort me or revive my life. My children no longer have a future, for the enemy has triumphed.”