ה (He) The Lord, ¹  like an enemy, destroyed ²  Israel. He destroyed ³  all her palaces; he ruined her ⁴  fortified cities. He made everyone in Daughter Judah mourn and lament. ⁵ 

“Son of man, realize that I am about to take the delight of your eyes away from you with a jolt, ¹  but you must not mourn or weep or shed tears.

Groan in silence for the dead, ¹  but do not perform mourning rites. ²  Bind on your turban ³  and put your sandals on your feet. Do not cover your lip ⁴  and do not eat food brought by others.” ⁵ 

Shave your heads bald as you mourn for the children you love; ¹  shave your foreheads as bald ²  as an eagle, ³  for they are taken from you into exile.

I am depressed! ¹  Indeed, ²  it is as if the summer fruit has been gathered, and the grapes have been harvested. ³  There is no grape cluster to eat, no fresh figs that I crave so much. ⁴ 

For out of great distress and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears, not to make you sad, but to let you know the love that I have especially for you. ¹ 

We were encouraged ¹  not only by his arrival, but also by the encouragement ²  you gave ³  him, as he reported to us your longing, your mourning, ⁴  your deep concern ⁵  for me, so that I rejoiced more than ever.

For this reason, she will experience her plagues ¹  in a single day: disease, ²  mourning, ³  and famine, and she will be burned down ⁴  with fire, because the Lord God who judges her is powerful!”

They will stand a long way off because they are afraid of her torment, and will say, “Woe, woe, O great city, Babylon the powerful city! For in a single hour your doom ¹  has come!”

The Lord regretted ¹  that he had made humankind on the earth, and he was highly offended. ² 

When Moses told ¹  these things to all the Israelites, the people mourned ²  greatly.

This is what she wrote: ¹  “Observe a time of fasting and seat Naboth in front of the people.

For my sighing comes in place of ¹  my food, ²  and my groanings ³  flow forth like water. ⁴ 

thus ¹  I have been made to inherit ²  months of futility, ³  and nights of sorrow ⁴  have been appointed ⁵  to me.

How many are my ¹  iniquities and sins? Show me my transgression and my sin. ² 

“But ¹  if I speak, my pain is not relieved, ²  and if I refrain from speaking – how ³  much of it goes away?

“Even today my complaint is still bitter; ¹  his ²  hand is heavy despite ³  my groaning.

My harp is used for ¹  mourning and my flute for the sound of weeping.

Take heed, do not turn to evil, for because of this you have been tested ¹  by affliction.

Then you turned my lament into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and covered me with joy. ¹