1Ak, som en sort og truende tordensky lå Herrens vrede over Jerusalem. Israels himmelske herlighed ligger knust i støvet. End ikke Herrens eget tempel blev forskånet for hans vrede.2Befolkningen i Juda blev nådesløst jaget fra hus og hjem. Herren nedbrød i sin vrede hver eneste befæstet by. Han ødelagde hele kongeriget til skam for dets ledere.3Den samlede israelitiske hær blev løbet over ende. Herren trak sin beskyttende hånd væk, da fjenden angreb. Hans vrede hærgede landet som en fortærende ild.4Eliten blandt landets ungdom blev dræbt. Herren blev vores fjende og gjorde det af med os. Han udgød sin vrede over Jerusalems indbyggere.5Fjenderne viste sig at være sendt af Herren. De ødelagde alle paladser og fæstninger i landet og skabte sorg og smerte overalt i Juda.6Grundlaget for at holde sabbat og højtid forsvandt, da Herren nedrev sit tempel, som var det et skur. Han forstødte i vrede både konger og præster.7Han forkastede sit alter, forlod sit tempel, lod fjenderne nedbryde palads og bymur. De jublede i templet som på en højtidsdag.8Intet i Jerusalem undgik ødelæggelsens svøbe. Herren havde besluttet, at bymuren skulle falde. Alle fæstningsværker og tårne blev lagt i ruiner.9Jerusalems portslåer blev smadret og portene splintret. Kongen og landets ledere blev ført bort til et fremmed land. Toraen bliver glemt og profetisk åbenbaring er forbi.10Klædt i sæk og med aske på hovedet sidder de tilbageblevne ledere tavse på jorden. De unge kvinder går nedbøjede omkring.11Lidelsen er ikke til at bære, mine tårer er brugt op. Mit hjerte er knust ved at se mit folks smerte. Børn og spædbørn dør af sult midt på gaden.12„Mad! Vand!” klager de små og besvimer. De falder om som sårede soldater i byens gader. Langsomt dør de i armene på deres mødre.13Nøden og pinen i byen er ufattelig. Åh, Jerusalem, din trøstesløse sorg er uden sidestykke. Det er umuligt at lindre din grænseløse smerte.14Ordene I hørte fra jeres såkaldte profeter, var falske. Hvis de havde påtalt jeres synd i stedet for at lyve, havde I måske kunnet undgå denne frygtelige skæbne.15På vejen uden for byen går folk nu forbi og råber hånligt: „Er det den by, man kaldte verdens skønneste? Den skulle ellers have bragt glæde til hele jorden.”16Raseriet står malet i deres ansigter, mens de håner dig: „Endelig kom Jerusalem ned med nakken! Det har vi set frem til meget længe.”17Så fik Herren til sidst gjort alvor af sin trussel. Han gennemførte uden skånsel den straf, han havde lovet. Han gav fjenderne sejr og lod dem tage æren for det.18Tårerne skal strømme som en flod dag og nat. Græd øjnene ud af hovedet, Jerusalem, råb til Herren. Lad selv dine nedbrudte mure hulke af gråd.19Udgyd dine tårer for Herren natten igennem. Løft hænderne og bønfald ham om at redde dine indbyggere, som er ved at dø af sult i dine gader.20„Vær nådig, Herre,” råber Jerusalem. „Stands denne frygtelige straf. Skal mødre virkelig spise deres egne børn, som sad på deres skød? Skal præster og profeter myrdes i dit hellige tempel?21Yngre så vel som ældre ligger døde i gadens snavs. Både unge mænd og piger blev hugget ned af sværdet. Herre, du slog dem i din vrede og uden barmhjertighed.22Ødelæggeren skabte rædsel overalt, så alle måtte smage din vrede. Du inviterede mine fjender til at komme, som var det en festdag. Fjenden dræbte alle mine kære, som var født og opvokset hos mig.”
1How the Lord in his anger has set the daughter of Zion under a cloud! He has cast down from heaven to earth the splendor of Israel; he has not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger. (1.Krøn 28,2; Es 14,15; Klag 3,44; Matt 11,23)2The Lord has swallowed up without mercy all the habitations of Jacob; in his wrath he has broken down the strongholds of the daughter of Judah; he has brought down to the ground in dishonor the kingdom and its rulers. (Salm 35,25; Salm 56,2; Salm 74,7; Salm 89,40; Es 43,28; Klag 2,16; Klag 2,17; Klag 2,21; Klag 3,43; Ez 9,5; Ez 9,10; Ez 36,3)3He has cut down in fierce anger all the might of Israel; he has withdrawn from them his right hand in the face of the enemy; he has burned like a flaming fire in Jacob, consuming all around. (1.Sam 2,1; Salm 74,11; Salm 79,5; Salm 89,46; Jer 12,13)4He has bent his bow like an enemy, with his right hand set like a foe; and he has killed all who were delightful in our eyes in the tent of the daughter of Zion; he has poured out his fury like fire. (Jer 30,14; Klag 3,12)5The Lord has become like an enemy; he has swallowed up Israel; he has swallowed up all its palaces; he has laid in ruins its strongholds, and he has multiplied in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation. (2.Kong 25,9; Salm 35,25; Salm 56,2; Es 29,2; Klag 2,4; Klag 2,16; Ez 36,3)6He has laid waste his booth like a garden, laid in ruins his meeting place; the Lord has made Zion forget festival and Sabbath, and in his fierce indignation has spurned king and priest. (Es 1,13; Klag 1,4; Zef 3,18)7The Lord has scorned his altar, disowned his sanctuary; he has delivered into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; they raised a clamor in the house of the Lord as on the day of festival. (5.Mos 32,30; Salm 74,4; Salm 89,38; Ez 24,21)8The Lord determined to lay in ruins the wall of the daughter of Zion; he stretched out the measuring line; he did not restrain his hand from destroying; he caused rampart and wall to lament; they languished together. (2.Kong 21,13; Jer 5,10; Jer 14,2; Klag 2,18)9Her gates have sunk into the ground; he has ruined and broken her bars; her king and princes are among the nations; the law is no more, and her prophets find no vision from the Lord. (Salm 74,9; Jer 51,30; Hos 3,4; Nah 3,13)10The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground in silence; they have thrown dust on their heads and put on sackcloth; the young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground. (Josva 7,6; Es 3,26; Jer 4,8; Jer 48,37; Klag 1,1; Klag 3,28; Ez 3,15; Ez 7,18; Amos 8,10)11My eyes are spent with weeping; my stomach churns; my bile is poured out to the ground because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because infants and babies faint in the streets of the city. (Job 16,13; Salm 6,7; Es 51,20; Jer 44,7; Klag 1,20; Klag 2,18; Klag 2,19; Klag 3,48; Klag 4,4; Klag 5,17)12They cry to their mothers, “Where is bread and wine?” as they faint like a wounded man in the streets of the city, as their life is poured out on their mothers’ bosom. (Klag 1,11; Klag 2,11)13What can I say for you, to what compare you, O daughter of Jerusalem? What can I liken to you, that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For your ruin is vast as the sea; who can heal you? (2.Sam 5,20; Klag 1,12; Ez 26,3)14Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions; they have not exposed your iniquity to restore your fortunes, but have seen for you oracles that are false and misleading. (Es 58,1; Jer 5,31; Jer 23,33; Jer 30,3)15All who pass along the way clap their hands at you; they hiss and wag their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem: “Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth?” (2.Krøn 29,8; Salm 48,2; Ez 16,14)16All your enemies rail against you; they hiss, they gnash their teeth, they cry: “We have swallowed her! Ah, this is the day we longed for; now we have it; we see it!” (Job 16,9; Salm 35,21; Klag 2,2; Klag 3,46)17The Lord has done what he purposed; he has carried out his word, which he commanded long ago; he has thrown down without pity; he has made the enemy rejoice over you and exalted the might of your foes. (3.Mos 26,14; 5.Mos 28,15; Salm 38,16; Salm 89,42; Jer 46,26; Klag 1,7; Klag 2,2; Klag 2,3; Klag 2,21)18Their heart cried to the Lord. O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears stream down like a torrent day and night! Give yourself no rest, your eyes no respite! (Salm 17,8; Salm 32,4; Salm 42,3; Salm 77,2; Klag 2,8; Klag 2,11)19“Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the night watches! Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord! Lift your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint for hunger at the head of every street.” (1.Sam 7,6; Salm 62,8; Salm 119,147; Klag 2,11; 1.Tim 2,8)20Look, O Lord, and see! With whom have you dealt thus? Should women eat the fruit of their womb, the children of their tender care? Should priest and prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord? (Jer 19,9; Klag 1,22; Klag 2,22; Klag 4,10; Klag 4,13)21In the dust of the streets lie the young and the old; my young women and my young men have fallen by the sword; you have killed them in the day of your anger, slaughtering without pity. (2.Krøn 36,17; Klag 2,2; Klag 2,17; Klag 3,43)22You summoned as if to a festival day my terrors on every side, and on the day of the anger of the Lord no one escaped or survived; those whom I held and raised my enemy destroyed. (Jer 6,25; Jer 42,17; Jer 44,14; Klag 2,6; Klag 2,20)