How Lonely Sits the City
1
How lonely sits the city
That was full of people!
a How like a widow is she,
Who was great among the nations!
The b princess among the provinces
Has become a slave!
2
She c weeps bitterly in the d night,
Her tears are on her cheeks;
Among all her lovers
She has none to comfort her.
All her friends have dealt treacherously with her;
They have become her enemies.
3
e Judah has gone into captivity,
Under affliction and hard servitude;
f She dwells among the nations,
She finds no g rest;
All her persecutors overtake her in dire straits.
4
The roads to Zion mourn
Because no one comes to the set feasts.
All her gates are h desolate;
Her priests sigh,
Her virgins are afflicted,
And she is in bitterness.
5
Her adversaries i have become the master,
Her enemies prosper;
For the LORD has afflicted her
j Because of the multitude of her transgressions.
Her k children have gone into captivity before the enemy.
6
And from the daughter of Zion
All her splendor has departed.
Her princes have become like deer
That find no pasture,
That flee without strength
Before the pursuer.
7
In the days of her affliction and roaming,
Jerusalem l remembers all her pleasant things
That she had in the days of old.
When her people fell into the hand of the enemy,
With no one to help her,
The adversaries saw her
And mocked at her downfall.
8
m Jerusalem has sinned gravely,
Therefore she has become vile.
All who honored her despise her
Because n they have seen her nakedness;
Yes, she sighs and turns away.
9
Her uncleanness is in her skirts;
She o did not consider her destiny;
Therefore her collapse was awesome;
She had no comforter.
"O LORD, behold my affliction,
For the enemy is exalted!"
10
The adversary has spread his hand
Over all her pleasant things;
For she has seen p the nations enter her sanctuary,
Those whom You commanded
q Not to enter Your assembly.
11
All her people sigh,
r They seek bread;
They have given their valuables for food to restore life.
"See, O LORD, and consider,
For I am scorned."
12
" Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?
Behold and see
s If there is any sorrow like my sorrow,
Which has been brought on me,
Which the LORD has inflicted
In the day of His fierce anger.
13
"From above He has sent fire into my bones,
And it overpowered them;
He has t spread a net for my feet
And turned me back;
He has made me desolate
And faint all the day.
14
"The u yoke of my transgressions was bound;
They were woven together by His hands,
And thrust upon my neck.
He made my strength fail;
The Lord delivered me into the hands of those whom I am not able to withstand.
15
"The Lord has trampled underfoot all my mighty men in my midst;
He has called an assembly against me
To crush my young men;
v The Lord trampled as in a winepress
The virgin daughter of Judah.
16
"For these things I weep;
My eye, w my eye overflows with water;
Because the comforter, who should restore my life,
Is far from me.
My children are desolate
Because the enemy prevailed."
17
x Zion spreads out her hands,
But no one comforts her;
The LORD has commanded concerning Jacob
That those y around him become his adversaries;
Jerusalem has become an unclean thing among them.
18
"The LORD is z righteous,
For I a rebelled against His commandment.
Hear now, all peoples,
And behold my sorrow;
My virgins and my young men
Have gone into captivity.
19
"I called for my lovers,
But they deceived me;
My priests and my elders
Breathed their last in the city,
While they sought food
To restore their life.
20
"See, O LORD, that I am in distress;
My b soul is troubled;
My heart is overturned within me,
For I have been very rebellious.
c Outside the sword bereaves,
At home it is like death.
21
"They have heard that I sigh,
But no one comforts me.
All my enemies have heard of my trouble;
They are d glad that You have done it.
Bring on e the day You have announced,
That they may become like me.
22
"Let f all their wickedness come before You,
And do to them as You have done to me
For all my transgressions;
For my sighs are many,
And my heart is faint."
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Cross References
Isaiah 47:7 - 9
And you said, 'I shall be a lady forever,' So that you did not take these things to heart, Nor remember the latter end of them.
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Cross References
1 Kings 4:21
So Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.
Ezra 4:20
There have also been mighty kings over Jerusalem, who have ruled over all the region beyond the River; and tax, tribute, and custom were paid to them.
Jeremiah 31:7
For thus says the LORD: "Sing with gladness for Jacob, And shout among the chief of the nations; Proclaim, give praise, and say, 'O LORD, save Your people, The remnant of Israel!
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Cross References
Jeremiah 13:17
But if you will not hear it, My soul will weep in secret for your pride; My eyes will weep bitterly And run down with tears, Because the LORD's flock has been taken captive.
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Cross References
Job 7:3
So I have been allotted months of futility, And wearisome nights have been appointed to me.
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Cross References
Jeremiah 52:27
Then the king of Babylon struck them and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah was carried away captive from its own land.
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Cross References
Lamentations 2:9
Her gates have sunk into the ground; He has destroyed and broken her bars. Her king and her princes are among the nations; The Law is no more, And her prophets find no vision from the LORD.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 28:65
And among those nations you shall find no rest, nor shall the sole of your foot have a resting place; but there the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and anguish of soul.
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Cross References
Isaiah 27:10
Yet the fortified city will be desolate, The habitation forsaken and left like a wilderness; There the calf will feed, and there it will lie down And consume its branches.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 28:43
The alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower.
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Cross References
Jeremiah 30:14
All your lovers have forgotten you; They do not seek you; For I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, With the chastisement of a cruel one, For the multitude of your iniquities, Because your sins have increased.
Jeremiah 30:15
Why do you cry about your affliction? Your sorrow is incurable. Because of the multitude of your iniquities, Because your sins have increased, I have done these things to you.
Daniel 9:7
O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day - to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You.
Daniel 9:16
O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all those around us.
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Cross References
Jeremiah 52:28
These are the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive: in the seventh year, three thousand and twenty-three Jews.
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Cross References
Psalms 137:1
By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down, yea, we wept When we remembered Zion.
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Cross References
1 Kings 8:46
When they sin against You (for there is no one who does not sin), and You become angry with them and deliver them to the enemy, and they take them captive to the land of the enemy, far or near.
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Cross References
Jeremiah 13:22
And if you say in your heart, "Why have these things come upon me?" For the greatness of your iniquity Your skirts have been uncovered, Your heels made bare.
Ezekiel 16:37
Surely, therefore, I will gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, all those you loved, and all those you hated; I will gather them from all around against you and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness.
Hosea 2:10
Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, And no one shall deliver her from My hand.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 32:29
Oh, that they were wise, that they understood this, That they would consider their latter end!
Isaiah 47:7
And you said, 'I shall be a lady forever,' So that you did not take these things to heart, Nor remember the latter end of them.
Jeremiah 5:31
The prophets prophesy falsely, And the priests rule by their own power; And My people love to have it so. But what will you do in the end?
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Cross References
Psalms 74:4 - 8
Your enemies roar in the midst of Your meeting place; They set up their banners for signs.
Isaiah 64:10
Your holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
Isaiah 64:11
Our holy and beautiful temple, Where our fathers praised You, Is burned up with fire; And all our pleasant things are laid waste.
Jeremiah 51:51
We are ashamed because we have heard reproach. Shame has covered our faces, For strangers have come into the sanctuaries of the LORD's house.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 23:3
An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter the assembly of the LORD; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the LORD forever.
Nehemiah 13:1
On that day they read from the Book of Moses in the hearing of the people, and in it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever come into the assembly of God.
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Cross References
Jeremiah 38:9
"My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon, and he is likely to die from hunger in the place where he is. For there is no more bread in the city."
Jeremiah 52:6
By the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the famine had become so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.
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Cross References
Daniel 9:12
And He has confirmed His words, which He spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing upon us a great disaster; for under the whole heaven such has never been done as what has been done to Jerusalem.
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Cross References
Ezekiel 12:13
I will also spread My net over him, and he shall be caught in My snare. I will bring him to Babylon, to the land of the Chaldeans; yet he shall not see it, though he shall die there.
Ezekiel 17:20
I will spread My net over him, and he shall be taken in My snare. I will bring him to Babylon and try him there for the treason which he committed against Me.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 28:48
Therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the LORD will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in need of everything; and He will put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has destroyed you.
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Cross References
Isaiah 63:3
I have trodden the winepress alone, And from the peoples no one was with Me. For I have trodden them in My anger, And trampled them in My fury; Their blood is sprinkled upon My garments, And I have stained all My robes.
Revelation 14:19
So the angel thrust his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth, and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
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Cross References
Psalms 69:20
Reproach has broken my heart, And I am full of heaviness; I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none; And for comforters, but I found none.
Ecclesiastes 4:1
Then I returned and considered all the oppression that is done under the sun: And look! The tears of the oppressed, But they have no comforter - On the side of their oppressors there is power, But they have no comforter.
Jeremiah 13:17
But if you will not hear it, My soul will weep in secret for your pride; My eyes will weep bitterly And run down with tears, Because the LORD's flock has been taken captive.
Lamentations 2:18
Their heart cried out to the Lord, "O wall of the daughter of Zion, Let tears run down like a river day and night; Give yourself no relief; Give your eyes no rest.
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Cross References
Isaiah 1:15
When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.
Jeremiah 4:31
"For I have heard a voice as of a woman in labor, The anguish as of her who brings forth her first child, The voice of the daughter of Zion bewailing herself; She spreads her hands, saying, 'Woe is me now, for my soul is weary Because of murderers!'
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Cross References
2 Kings 24:2 - 4
And the LORD sent against him raiding bands of Chaldeans, bands of Syrians, bands of Moabites, and bands of the people of Ammon; He sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the LORD which He had spoken by His servants the prophets.
Jeremiah 12:9
My heritage is to Me like a speckled vulture; The vultures all around are against her. Come, assemble all the beasts of the field, Bring them to devour!
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Cross References
Nehemiah 9:33
However You are just in all that has befallen us; For You have dealt faithfully, But we have done wickedly.
Psalms 119:75
I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are right, And that in faithfulness You have afflicted me.
Daniel 9:7
O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day - to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You.
Daniel 9:14
Therefore the LORD has kept the disaster in mind, and brought it upon us; for the LORD our God is righteous in all the works which He does, though we have not obeyed His voice.
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Cross References
1 Samuel 12:14
If you fear the LORD and serve Him and obey His voice, and do not rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then both you and the king who reigns over you will continue following the LORD your God.
1 Samuel 12:15
However, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD, but rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then the hand of the LORD will be against you, as it was against your fathers.
Jeremiah 4:17
Like keepers of a field they are against her all around, Because she has been rebellious against Me," says the LORD.
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Cross References
Job 30:27
My heart is in turmoil and cannot rest; Days of affliction confront me.
Isaiah 16:11
Therefore my heart shall resound like a harp for Moab, And my inner being for Kir Heres.
Jeremiah 4:19
O my soul, my soul! I am pained in my very heart! My heart makes a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, Because you have heard, O my soul, The sound of the trumpet, The alarm of war.
Lamentations 2:11
My eyes fail with tears, My heart is troubled; My bile is poured on the ground Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, Because the children and the infants Faint in the streets of the city.
Hosea 11:8
How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I set you like Zeboiim? My heart churns within Me; My sympathy is stirred.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 32:25
The sword shall destroy outside; There shall be terror within For the young man and virgin, The nursing child with the man of gray hairs.
Ezekiel 7:15
The sword is outside, And the pestilence and famine within. Whoever is in the field Will die by the sword; And whoever is in the city, Famine and pestilence will devour him.
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Cross References
Psalms 35:15
But in my adversity they rejoiced And gathered together; Attackers gathered against me, And I did not know it; They tore at me and did not cease.
Jeremiah 48:27
For was not Israel a derision to you? Was he found among thieves? For whenever you speak of him, You shake your head in scorn.
Jeremiah 50:11
Because you were glad, because you rejoiced, You destroyers of My heritage, Because you have grown fat like a heifer threshing grain, And you bellow like bulls.
Lamentations 2:15
All who pass by clap their hands at you; They hiss and shake their heads At the daughter of Jerusalem: " Is this the city that is called 'The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth'?
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Cross References
Isaiah 13:1
The burden against Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.
Jeremiah 46:1
The word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the nations.
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Cross References
Nehemiah 4:4
Hear, O our God, for we are despised; turn thei...
Nehemiah 4:5
Do not cover their iniquity, and do not let the...
Psalms 109:15
Let them be continually before the LORD, That H...
Psalms 137:7
Remember, O LORD, against the sons of Edom The ...
Psalms 137:8
O daughter of Babylon, who are to be destroyed,...
Jeremiah 30:16
Therefore all those who devour you shall be dev...
New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.