1 How lonely sits the city
That was full of people!
She has become like a widow
Who was once great among the nations!
She who was a princess among the provinces
Has become a forced laborer!
And her tears are on her cheeks;
She has none to comfort her
Among all her lovers.
All her friends have dealt treacherously with her;
They have become her enemies.
And under harsh servitude;
She dwells among the nations,
But she has found no rest;
All her pursuers have overtaken her
In the midst of distress.
Because no one comes to the appointed feasts.
All her gates are desolate;
Her priests are groaning,
Her virgins are afflicted,
And she herself is bitter.
Her enemies prosper;
For the LORD has caused her grief
Because of the multitude of her transgressions;
Her little ones have gone away
As captives before the adversary.
Has departed from the daughter of Zion;
Her princes have become like deer
That have found no pasture;
And they have fled without strength
Before the pursuer.
Jerusalem remembers all her precious things
That were from the days of old,
When her people fell into the hand of the adversary
And no one helped her.
The adversaries saw her,
They mocked at her ruin.
Therefore she has become an unclean thing.
All who honored her despise her
Because they have seen her nakedness;
Even she herself groans and turns away.
She did not consider her future.
Therefore she has fallen astonishingly;
She has no comforter.
“See, O LORD, my affliction,
For the enemy has magnified himself!”
Over all her precious things,
For she has seen the nations enter her sanctuary,
The ones whom You commanded
That they should not enter into Your congregation.
They have given their precious things for food
To restore their lives themselves.
“See, O LORD, and look,
For I am despised.”
Look and see if there is any pain like my pain
Which was severely dealt out to me,
Which the LORD inflicted on the day of His fierce anger.
And it prevailed over them.
He has spread a net for my feet;
He has turned me back;
He has made me desolate,
Faint all day long.
By His hand they are knit together.
They have come upon my neck;
He has made my strength fail.
The Lord has given me into the hands
Of those against whom I am not able to stand.
In my midst;
He has called an appointed time against me
To crush my young men;
The Lord has trodden as in a wine press
The virgin daughter of Judah.
My eyes run down with water;
Because far from me is a comforter,
One who restores my soul.
My children are desolate
Because the enemy has prevailed.”
There is no one to comfort her;
The LORD has commanded concerning Jacob
That the ones round about him should be his adversaries;
Jerusalem has become an unclean thing among them.
For I have rebelled against His command;
Hear now, all peoples,
And behold my pain;
My virgins and my young men
Have gone into captivity.
My priests and my elders perished in the city
While they sought food to restore their strength themselves.
My spirit is greatly troubled;
My heart is overturned within me,
For I have been very rebellious.
In the street the sword slays;
In the house it is like death.
There is no one to comfort me;
All my enemies have heard of my calamity;
They are glad that You have done it.
Oh, that You would bring the day which You have proclaimed,
That they may become like me.
And deal with them as You have dealt with me
For all my transgressions;
For my groans are many and my heart is faint.”
I. УЖАСНОЕ ОПУСТОШЕНИЕ ИЕРУСАЛИМА (1:1−11)
Перед нами предстает картина полного опустошения Иерусалима. Стихи 1−11 написаны от лица наблюдателя. Некогда многолюдный город теперь как вдова, князь, сделался данником — идолы бросили его на произвол судьбы, все друзья предали его (ст. 1−2). Из-за грехов своих отправился в изгнание народ, никто уже не приходит поклониться на Сионе (ст. 3−9). Вавилоняне забрали драгоценные сосуды из святилища (ст. 10), народ страдает от голода (ст. 11).
II. ГОРЕСТНЫЙ ПЛАЧ, РАСКАЯНИЕ И МОЛИТВА НАРОДА (1:12−22)
A. Плач (1:12−17)
Этот отрывок повествует о великом несчастии Иерусалима. Стих 12, который стал «классическим выражением скорби», напоминает нам плач Господа над Иерусалимом из-за его упрямого отвержения своего Мессии. Эти слова также соответствуют той атмосфере, которая царила на Голгофе, где умирал Христос: жестокие солдаты, религиозные вожди и бессердечная чернь, устроившая из ужасной казни забавное зрелище.
Иудеи понимают, что сам Господь (ст. 15) навел на них все это зло. И хотя Сион простирает руки свои, взывая о милости, утешителя нет ему, потому что Иерусалим сделался мерзостью среди них.
Б. Раскаяние (1:18−19)
Иудеи признают, что праведен Господь в том, что наказал их изгнанием, потому что народ непокорен был слову Его. Друзья Сиона — языческие народы — обманули его.
B. Молитва (1:20−22)
Евреи молят Бога — «ибо тяжки стоны мои» — чтобы Он воздал их врагам по их злобе и злорадству, полностью осознавая, при этом, свои грехи.