A reading from
the Book of Lamentations2:2, 10-14, 18-19
The Lord has consumed without pity/ all the dwellings of Jacob;/ He has torn down in his anger/ the fortresses of daughter Judah;/ He has brought to the ground in dishonor/ her king and her princes.
On the ground in silence sit/ the old men of daughter Zion;/ They strew dust on their heads/ and gird themselves with sackcloth;/ The maidens of Jerusalem/ bow their heads to the ground.
Worn out from weeping are my eyes,/ within me all is in ferment;/ My gall is poured out on the ground/ because of the downfall of the daughter of my people,/ As child and infant faint away/ in the open spaces of the town.
In vain they ask their mothers,/ “Where is the grain?”/ As they faint away like the wounded/ in the streets of the city,/ And breathe their last/ in their mothers’ arms.
To what can I liken or compare you,/ O daughter Jerusalem?/ What example can I show you for your comfort,/ virgin daughter Zion?/ For great as the sea is your downfall;/ who can heal you?
Your prophets had for you/ false and specious visions;/ They did not lay bare your guilt,/ to avert your fate;/ They beheld for you in vision/ false and misleading portents.
Cry out to the Lord;/ moan, O daughter Zion!/ Let your tears flow like a torrent/ day and night;/ Let there be no respite for you,/ no repose for your eyes.
Rise up, shrill in the night,/ at the beginning of every watch;/ Pour out your heart like water/ in the presence of the Lord;/ Lift up your hands to him/ for the lives of your little ones/ Who faint from hunger/ at the corner of every street.
The word of the Lord.
