Lamentations 2:11-18

11My eyes are worn out with tears. My stomach is churning. My heart is poured out on the ground because of the destruction of my people. Little children and infants faint in the city streets.

12They’re asking their mothers for some bread and wine as they faint like wounded people in the city streets. Their lives dwindle away in their mothers’ arms.

13“What example can I give you? What parallel can I show you, people of Jerusalem? What comparison can I make that will comfort you, beloved people of Zion? Your wounds are as deep as the sea. Who can heal you?

14Your prophets saw misleading visions about you. They painted a good picture of you. They didn’t expose your guilt in order to make things better again. They gave you false prophecies that misled you.

15Everyone who walks along the road shakes a fist at you. They hiss and shake their heads at Jerusalem’s people: ‘Is this the city they used to call absolutely beautiful, the joy of the whole world?’

16All your enemies gawk at you. They hiss and grit their teeth. They say, ‘We’ve swallowed it up. Yes, this is the day we’ve been waiting for. At last we have seen it!’

17The Lord has accomplished what he had planned to do. He carried out the threat he announced long ago. He tore you down without any pity, ⌞Jerusalem⌟. He made your enemies gloat over you. He raised the weapons of your opponents.

18The hearts of Jerusalem’s people cried out to the Lord, the wall of Zion’s people. Let your tears run down like a river day and night. Don’t let them stop. Don’t let your eyes rest.