Lamentations 2

NEW JERUSALEM	DOUAI-RHEIMS
1 In his anger, with what darkness has the Lord enveloped the daughter of Zion! He has flung the beautyof Israel from heaven to the ground, without regard for his footstool on the day of his anger.	1 Aleph. How hath the Lord covered with obscurity the daughter of Sion in his wrath! how hath he cast down from heaven to the earth the glorious one of Israel, and hath not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger!
2 The Lord pitilessly engulfed all the homes of Jacob; in his fury he tore down the fortresses of thedaughter of Judah; he threw to the ground, he desecrated the kingdom and its princes.	2 Beth. The Lord hath cast down headlong, and hath not spared, all that was beautiful in Jacob: he hath destroyed in his wrath the strong holds of the virgin of Juda, and brought them down to the ground: he hath made the kingdom unclean, and the princes thereof.
3 In his burning anger he broke al the might of Israel, withdrew his protecting right hand at the coming ofthe enemy, and blazed against Jacob like a fire that burns up everything near it.	3 Ghimel. He hath broken in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel: he hath drawn back his right hand from before the enemy: and he hath kindled in Jacob as it were a flaming fire devouring round about.
4 Like an enemy he bent his bow, and his right hand held firm; like a foe he slaughtered all those whowere a delight to see; on the tent of the daughter of Zion he poured out his fury like fire.	4 Daleth. He hath bent his bow as an enemy, he hath fixed his right hand as an adversary: and he hath killed all that was fair to behold in the tabernacle of the daughter of Sion, he hath poured out his indignation like fire.
5 The Lord behaved like an enemy; he engulfed Israel, he engulfed all its citadels, he destroyed itsfortresses and for the daughter of Judah multiplied weeping on wailing.	5 He. The Lord is become as an enemy: he hath cast down Israel headlong, he hath overthrown all the walls thereof: he hath destroyed his strong holds, and hath multiplied in the daughter of Juda the afflicted, both men and women.
6 He wrecked his domain like a garden, destroyed his assembly-points, Yahweh erased the memory offestivals and Sabbaths in Zion; in the heat of his anger he treated king and priest with contempt.	6 Vau. And he hath destroyed his tent as a garden, he hath thrown down his tabernacle: the Lord hath caused feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Sion: and hath delivered up king and priest to reproach, and to the indignation of his wrath.
7 The Lord has rejected his altar, he has come to loathe his sanctuary and has given her palace wallsinto the clutches of the enemy; from the uproar they made in Yahweh's temple it might have been a festival day!	7 Zain. The Lord hath cast off his altar, he hath cursed his sanctuary: he hath delivered the walls of the towers thereof into the hand of the enemy: they have made a noise in the house of the Lord, as in the day of a solemn feast.
8 Yahweh has resolved to destroy the wal s of the daughter of Zion, stretching out the line, not stayinghis hand until he has engulfed everything, thus bringing mourning on wall and rampart; alike they crumbled.	8 Heth. The Lord hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Sion: he hath stretched out his line, and hath not withdrawn his hand from destroying: and the bulwark hath mourned, and the wall hath been destroyed together.
9 Her gates have sunk into the ground; he has broken and shattered their bars. Her king and her princesare among the gentiles, there is no instruction, furthermore her prophets cannot find any vision from Yahweh.	9 Teth. Her gates are sunk into the ground: he hath destroyed, and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no more, and her prophets have found no vision from the Lord.
10 Mute, they sit on the ground, the elders of the daughter of Zion; they have put dust on their heads andwrapped themselves in sackcloth. The young girls of Jerusalem bow their heads to the ground.	10 Jod. The ancients of the daughter of Sion sit upon the ground, they have held their peace: they have sprinkled their heads with dust, they are girded with haircloth, the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.
11 My eyes are worn out with weeping, my inmost being is in ferment, my heart plummets at thedestruction of my young people, as the children and babies grow faint in the streets of the city.	11 Caph. My eyes have failed with weeping, my bowels are troubled: my liver is poured out upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people, when the children, and the sucklings, fainted away in the streets of the city.
12 They keep saying to their mothers, 'Where is some food?' as they faint like wounded men in thestreets of the city, as they breathe their last on their mothers' breasts.	12 Lamed. They said to their mothers: Where is corn and wine? when they fainted away as the wounded in the streets of the city: when they breathed out their souls in the bosoms of their mothers.
13 To what can I compare or liken you, daughter of Jerusalem? Who can rescue and comfort you, youngdaughter of Zion? For huge as the sea is your ruin: who can heal you?	13 Mem. To what shall I compare thee? or to what shall I liken thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? to what shall I equal thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Sion? for great as the sea is thy destruction: who shall heal thee?
14 The visions your prophets had for you were deceptive whitewash; they did not lay bare your guilt soas to change your fortunes: the visions they told you were deceptive.	14 Nun. Thy prophets have seen false and foolish things for thee: and they have not laid open thy iniquity, to excite thee to penance: but they have seen for thee false revelations and banishments.
15 Al who pass your way clap their hands at the sight; they whistle and shake their heads over thedaughter of Jerusalem, 'Is this the city they cal Perfection of Beauty, the joy of the whole world?'	15 Samech. All they that passed by the way have clapped their hands at thee: they have hissed, and wagged their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying: Is this the city of perfect beauty, the joy of all the earth?
16 Your enemies open their mouths in chorus against you; they whistle and grind their teeth; they say,'We have swallowed her up. This is the day we were waiting for; at last we have seen it!'	16 Phe. All thy enemies have opened their mouth against thee: they have hissed, and gnashed with the teeth, and have said: We will swallow her up: lo, this is the day which we looked for: we have found it, we have seen it.
17 Yahweh has done what he planned, has carried out his threat, as he ordained long ago: he hasdestroyed without pity, increasing the might of your foes -- and letting your foes get the credit.	17 Ain. The Lord hath done that which he purposed, he hath fulfilled his word, which he commanded in the days of old: he hath destroyed, and hath not spared, and he hath caused the enemy to rejoice over thee, and hath set up the horn of thy adversaries.
18 Cry then to the Lord, rampart of the daughter of Zion; let your tears flow like a torrent, day and night;al ow yourself no respite, give your eyes no rest!	18 Sade. Their heart cried to the Lord upon the walls of the daughter of Sion: Let tears run down like a torrent day and night: give thyself no rest, and let not the apple of thy eye cease.
19 Up, cry out in the night-time as each watch begins! Pour your heart out like water in Yahweh'spresence! Raise your hands to him for the lives of your children (who faint with hunger at the end of everystreet)!	19 Coph. Arise, give praise in the night, in the beginning of the watches: pour out thy heart like water before the face of the Lord: lift up thy hands to him for the life of thy little children, that have fainted for hunger at the top of all the streets.
20 Look, Yahweh, and consider: whom have you ever treated like this? Should women eat their littleones, the children they have nursed? Should priest and prophet be slaughtered in the Lord's sanctuary?	20 Res. Behold, O Lord, and consider whom thou hast thus dealt with: shall women then eat their own fruit, their children of a span long? shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord ?
21 Children and old people are lying on the ground in the streets; my young men and young girls havefal en by the sword; you have kil ed them, on the day of your anger, you have slaughtered them pitilessly.	21 Sin. The child and the old man lie without on the ground: my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword: thou hast slain them in the day of thy wrath: thou hast killed, and shewn them no pity.
22 As though to a festival you cal ed together terrors from al sides, so that, on the day of Yahweh'sanger, none escaped and none survived. Those whom I had nursed and reared, my enemy has annihilated themal .	22 Thau. Thou hast called as to a festival, those that should terrify me round about, and there was none in the day of the wrath of the Lord that escaped and was left: those that I brought up, and nourished, my enemy hath consumed them.