⁸   The LORD determined to lay in ruins 
          the wall of daughter Zion; 
     he stretched the line; 
          he did not withhold his hand from destroying; 
     he caused rampart and wall to lament; 
          they languish together.

⁹   Her gates have sunk into the ground; 
          he has ruined and broken her bars; 
     her king and princes are among the nations; 
          guidance is no more, 
     and her prophets obtain 
          no vision from the LORD.

¹⁰  The elders of daughter Zion 
          sit on the ground in silence; 
     they have thrown dust on their heads 
          and put on sackcloth; 
     the young girls of Jerusalem 
          have bowed their heads to the ground.

¹¹  My eyes are spent with weeping; 
          my stomach churns; 
     my bile is poured out on the ground 
          because of the destruction of my people, 
     because infants and babes faint 
          in the streets of the city.

¹²  They cry to their mothers, 
          “Where is bread and wine?” 
     as they faint like the wounded 
          in the streets of the city, 
     as their life is poured out 
          on their mothers’ bosom.

¹³  What can I say for you, to what compare you, 
          O daughter Jerusalem? 
     To what can I liken you, that I may comfort you, 
          O virgin daughter Zion? 
     For vast as the sea is your ruin; 
          who can heal you?

¹⁴  Your prophets have seen for you 
          false and deceptive visions; 
     they have not exposed your iniquity 
          to restore your fortunes, 
     but have seen oracles for you 
          that are false and misleading.

¹⁵  All who pass along the way 
          clap their hands at you; 
     they hiss and wag their heads 
          at daughter Jerusalem; 
     “Is this the city that was called 
          the perfection of beauty, 
          the joy of all the earth?”