This chapter is an acrostic poem, the verses of which begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. 1How the Lord has covered Daughter Zion
with the cloud of his anger2:1 Or How the Lord in his anger / has treated Daughter Zion with contempt!
He has hurled down the splendor of Israel
from heaven to earth;
he has not remembered his footstool
in the day of his anger.
2Without pity the Lord has swallowed up
all the dwellings of Jacob;
in his wrath he has torn down
the strongholds of Daughter Judah.
He has brought her kingdom and its princes
down to the ground in dishonor.
3In fierce anger he has cut off
every horn2:3 Or off / all the strength; or every king2:3 Horn here symbolizes strength. of Israel.
He has withdrawn his right hand
at the approach of the enemy.
He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire
that consumes everything around it.
4Like an enemy he has strung his bow;
his right hand is ready.
Like a foe he has slain
all who were pleasing to the eye;
he has poured out his wrath like fire
on the tent of Daughter Zion.
5The Lord is like an enemy;
he has swallowed up Israel.
He has swallowed up all her palaces
and destroyed her strongholds.
He has multiplied mourning and lamentation
for Daughter Judah.
6He has laid waste his dwelling like a garden;
he has destroyed his place of meeting.
The Lord has made Zion forget
her appointed festivals and her Sabbaths;
in his fierce anger he has spurned
both king and priest.
7The Lord has rejected his altar
and abandoned his sanctuary.
He has given the walls of her palaces
into the hands of the enemy;
they have raised a shout in the house of the Lord
as on the day of an appointed festival.
8The Lord determined to tear down
the wall around Daughter Zion.
He stretched out a measuring line
and did not withhold his hand from destroying.
He made ramparts and walls lament;
together they wasted away.
9Her gates have sunk into the ground;
their bars he has broken and destroyed.
Her king and her princes are exiled among the nations,
the law is no more,
and her prophets no longer find
visions from the Lord.
10The elders of Daughter Zion
sit on the ground in silence;
they have sprinkled dust on their heads
and put on sackcloth.
The young women of Jerusalem
have bowed their heads to the ground.
11My eyes fail from weeping,
I am in torment within;
my heart is poured out on the ground
because my people are destroyed,
because children and infants faint
in the streets of the city.
12They say to their mothers,
“Where is bread and wine?”
as they faint like the wounded
in the streets of the city,
as their lives ebb away
in their mothers’ arms.
13What can I say for you?
With what can I compare you,
Daughter Jerusalem?
To what can I liken you,
that I may comfort you,
Virgin Daughter Zion?
Your wound is as deep as the sea.
Who can heal you?
14The visions of your prophets
were false and worthless;
they did not expose your sin
to ward off your captivity.
The prophecies they gave you
were false and misleading.
15All who pass your way
clap their hands at you;
they scoff and shake their heads
at Daughter Jerusalem:
“Is this the city that was called
the perfection of beauty,
the joy of the whole earth?”
16All your enemies open their mouths
wide against you;
they scoff and gnash their teeth
and say, “We have swallowed her up.
This is the day we have waited for;
we have lived to see it.”
17The Lord has done what he planned;
he has fulfilled his word,
which he decreed long ago.
He has overthrown you without pity,
he has let the enemy gloat over you,
he has exalted the horn2:17 Horn here symbolizes strength. of your foes.
18The hearts of the people
cry out to the Lord.
You walls of Daughter Zion,
let your tears flow like a river
day and night;
give yourself no relief,
your eyes no rest.
19Arise, cry out in the night,
as the watches of the night begin;
pour out your heart like water
in the presence of the Lord.
Lift up your hands to him
for the lives of your children,
who faint from hunger
at every street corner.
20“Look, Lord, and consider:
Whom have you ever treated like this?
Should women eat their offspring,
the children they have cared for?
Should priest and prophet be killed
in the sanctuary of the Lord?
21“Young and old lie together
in the dust of the streets;
my young men and young women
have fallen by the sword.
You have slain them in the day of your anger;
you have slaughtered them without pity.
22“As you summon to a feast day,
so you summoned against me terrors on every side.
In the day of the Lord’s anger
no one escaped or survived;
those I cared for and reared
my enemy has destroyed.”
12:1 a Kgb 3:44 b Zab 99:5; 132:7Obusungu bwa Mukama nga bubuubuukidde ku Muwala wa Sayuuni
ne bumussa wansi w’ekire!
Ekitiibwa kya Isirayiri, Mukama akissizza wansi
okuva mu ggulu okutuuka ku nsi;
ne yeerabira entebe ey’ebigere bye
ku lunaku lwe yasunguwalirako.
22:2 a Kgb 3:43 b Zab 21:9 c Zab 89:39-40; Mi 5:11 d Is 25:12Mukama azikirizza
abatuula mu Yakobo bonna awatali kubasaasira;
mu busungu bwe amenye
ebigo eby’amaanyi eby’omuwala wa Yuda;
assizza wansi obwakabaka bwe n’abakungu be
n’abamalamu ekitiibwa.
32:3 a Zab 75:5, 10 b Zab 74:11 c Is 42:25; Yer 21:4-5, 14Mu busungu obungi
amaanyi gonna aga Isirayiri agakendeezezza;
bw’alabye omulabe ng’asembera,
n’aggyawo omukono gwe ogwa ddyo;
anyiigidde Yakobo okufaanana ng’omuliro
bwe gubumbujja ne gwokya buli ekiguliraanye.
42:4 a Yob 16:13; Kgb 3:12-13 b Ez 24:16, 25 c Is 42:25; Yer 7:20Anaanudde omutego gwe okufaanana nga ogw’omulabe,
era omukono gwe ogwa ddyo mweteefuteefu.
Azikirizza ebyo byonna ebisanyusa amaaso
mu weema ey’omuwala wa Sayuuni,
okufaanana ng’omulabe bwe yandikoze;
obusungu bwe bubuubuuka ng’omuliro.
52:5 a Yer 30:14 b nny 2 c Yer 9:17-20Mukama afuuse ng’omulabe;
azikirizza Isirayiri,
n’azikiriza embiri ze,
n’azikiriza n’ebifo bye eby’amaanyi.
Aleetedde muwala wa Yuda
okweyongera okukaaba n’okukungubaga.
62:6 a Yer 52:13 b Kgb 1:4; Zef 3:18 c Kgb 4:16Asaanyizzaawo eweema ye n’efaanana ng’ennimiro,
era azikirizza n’ekifo kye eky’Okukuŋŋaanirangamu.
Mukama yeerabizza Sayuuni
embaga ze entukuvu ne ssabbiiti,
era mu busungu bwe obungi
anyoomye kabaka ne kabona.
72:7 Zab 74:7-8; Is 64:11; Yer 33:4-5Mukama atamiddwa ekyoto kye,
n’alekulira n’ekifo kye ekitukuvu.
Awaddeyo bbugwe w’embiri ze eri omulabe;
era baleekaanidde mu nnyumba ya Mukama,
ne baleetamu oluyoogaano
nga ku lunaku olw’embaga entukuvu.
82:8 a 2Bk 21:13; Is 34:11 b Is 3:26Mukama yamalirira okumenya
bbugwe eyeetoolodde muwala wa Sayuuni,
n’agolola omuguwa ogupima,
Omukono gwe ne guteewala kuzikiriza.
Yaleetera enkomera ne bbugwe okukungubaga,
byonna ne biggweerera.
92:9 a Nek 1:3 b Ma 28:36; 2Bk 24:15 c 2By 15:3 d Yer 14:14Emiryango gye gisse mu ttaka,
n’emitayimbwa gyagyo agimenye n’agyonoona.
Kabaka we n’abakungu be baawaŋŋangusizibwa,
eteri mateeka gaabwe agabafuga,
era ne bannabbi be tebakyafuna
kwolesebwa kuva eri Mukama.
102:10 a Yob 2:12 b Is 15:3 c Yob 2:13; Is 3:26Abakadde b’Omuwala wa Sayuuni
batuula wansi ku ttaka nga basiriikiridde;
bayiye enfuufu ku mitwe gyabwe
era beesibye ebibukutu;
n’abawala ba Yerusaalemi
bakotese emitwe gyabwe.
112:11 a Kgb 1:16; 3:48-51 b Kgb 1:20 c nny 19; Zab 22:14 d Kgb 4:4Amaaso gange gakooye olw’okukaaba
n’emmeeme yange enyiikadde
n’omutima gwange gulumwa
olw’okuzikirizibwa kw’abantu bange,
n’olw’abaana abato n’abaana abawere okuzirikira
wakati mu nguudo ez’omu kibuga.
122:12 Kgb 4:4Bakaabirira bannyaabwe nga bwe boogera nti,
“Omugaati n’envinnyo biri ludda wa?”
nga bwe bazirika okufaanana ng’abaliko ebiwundu
mu nguudo ez’ekibuga,
nga bwe bakaabira
mu bifuba bya bannyaabwe.
132:13 a Is 37:22 b Yer 14:17; Kgb 1:12Nnyinza kugamba ki,
era kiki kye nnyinza okukugeraageranyaako
ggwe Omuwala wa Yerusaalemi?
Kiki kye nnyinza okukufaananya,
okukusanyusa ggwe
Omuwala Embeerera owa Sayuuni?
Ekiwundu kyo kinene nnyo,
kale ani ayinza okukiwonya?
142:14 a Is 58:1 b Yer 2:8; 23:25-32, 33-40; 29:9; Ez 13:3; 22:28Okwolesebwa bannabbi bo kwe baafuna,
kwali kwa bulimba era kwa butaliimu;
tebaakutegeeza obutali butuukirivu bwo
okukuwonya obusibe.
Engero ze baabanyumizanga
zaali za bulimba era eziwabya.
152:15 a Ez 25:6 b Yer 19:8 c Zab 50:2 d Zab 48:2Bonna abayitawo
babakubira mu ngalo
ne bafuuwa empa ne banyeenyeza
omuwala wa Yerusaalemi emitwe gyabwe nga boogera nti,
“Kino kye kibuga ekyayitibwanga
ekituukiridde,
era essanyu ly’ensi zonna?”
162:16 a Zab 56:2; Kgb 3:46 b Yob 16:9 c Zab 35:25Abalabe bo bonna
baasaamiridde nga beewuunya;
nga bafuuwa empa, era baluma amannyo
nga boogera nti, “Tumuzikirizza.
Luno lwe lunaku lwe twalindirira,
kaakano lutuukiridde, era tululabye.”
172:17 a Ma 28:15-45 b nny 2; Ez 5:11 c Zab 89:42Mukama akoze kye yateekateeka,
era atuukirizza ekigambo kye
kye yalagira mu nnaku ez’edda.
Akuzikirizza awatali kukusaasira,
aleetedde omulabe wo okukusekerera,
n’amaanyi g’abalabe bo agagulumizza.
182:18 a Zab 119:145 b Kgb 1:16 c Yer 9:1 d Kgb 3:49Kaabirira Mukama
n’eddoboozi ery’omwanguka
ggwe Omuwala wa Sayuuni.
Leka amaziga go gakulukute ng’omugga
emisana n’ekiro.
Teweewummuza so toganya
maaso go kuwummula.
192:19 a 1Sa 1:15; Zab 62:8 b Is 26:9 c Is 51:20Golokoka, okaabe ekiro
obudde nga bwa kaziba;
Fuka emmeeme yo ng’amazzi
mu maaso ga Mukama.
Yimusa emikono gyo gy’ali,
olw’obulamu bw’abaana bo abato
abazirise olw’enjala
mu buli luguudo.
202:20 a Ma 28:53; Yer 19:9 b Kgb 4:10 c Zab 78:64; Yer 14:15“Tunula, Ayi Mukama Katonda osaasire!
Ani gwe wali obonerezza bw’otyo?
Ddala, abakyala balye ebibala by’embuto zaabwe,
abaana be bakuzizza?
Ddala, bakabona ne bannabbi battibwe
mu watukuvu wa Mukama?
212:21 a 2By 36:17; Zab 78:62-63; Yer 6:11 b Yer 13:14; Kgb 3:43; Zek 11:6“Abato n’abakulu bonna bafiiridde wamu
mu nfuufu ey’enguudo;
abavubuka bange ne bawala bange
battiddwa n’ekitala;
obattidde ku lunaku olw’obusungu bwo,
era obasse awatali kusaasira.
222:22 a Zab 31:13; Yer 6:25 b Kos 9:13“Nga bw’oyita abantu ku lunaku olw’embaga,
bw’otyo bw’ompitidde ebikemo ku njuyi zonna;
era ku lunaku olw’obusungu bwa Mukama,
tewali n’omu eyasimattuka newaakubadde eyasigalawo;
abo be nalabirira ne nkuza,
omulabe wange be yazikiriza.”
