Lamentations

¹³What shall I testify unto thee? what shall I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? what shall I equal to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? for thy breach is great like the sea: who can heal thee? ¹⁴Thy prophets have seen visions for thee of vanity and foolishness; and they have not discovered thine iniquity, to bring again thy captivity: but have seen for thee burdens of vanity and causes of banishment. ¹⁵All that pass by clap their hands at thee; they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying: Is this the city that men called The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth? ¹⁶All thine enemies have opened their mouth wide against thee; they hiss and gnash the teeth; they say, We have swallowed her up; certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen it. ¹⁷The Lord hath done that which he devised; he hath fulfilled his word that he commanded in the days of old; he hath thrown down, and hath not pitied: and he hath caused the enemy to rejoice over thee, he hath exalted the horn of thine adversaries. ¹⁸Their heart cried unto the Lord: O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night; give thyself no respite; let not the apple of thine eye cease. ¹⁹Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches; pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord: lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children, that faint for hunger at the top of every street.