Lamentations 1:19

Suffering Friendship

¹⁷ Zion stretches out her hands, but there is no one to comfort her. The LORD has decreed against Jacob that his neighbors become his foes. Jerusalem has become an unclean thing among them.

¹⁸ The LORD is righteous, for I have rebelled against His command. Listen, all you people; look upon my suffering. My young men and maidens have gone into captivity.

I called out to my lovers, but they have betrayed me. My priests and elders perished in the city while they searched for food to keep themselves alive.

²⁰ See, O LORD, how distressed I am! I am churning within; my heart is pounding within me, for I have been most rebellious. Outside, the sword bereaves; inside, there is death.

²¹ People have heard my groaning, but there is no one to comfort me. All my enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that You have caused it. May You bring the day You have announced, so that they may become like me.

Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB: I called out to my lovers, but they have betrayed me. My priests and elders perished in the city while they searched for food to keep themselves alive.
KJV: I called for my lovers, but they deceived me: my priests and mine elders gave up the ghost in the city, while they sought their meat to relieve their souls.
WEB: “I called for my lovers, but they deceived me. My priests and my elders gave up the spirit in the city, while they sought food for themselves to refresh their souls.
ASV: I called for my lovers, [but] they deceived me: My priests and mine elders gave up the ghost in the city, While they sought them food to refresh their souls.
DARBY: I called for my lovers, they have deceived me; my priests and mine elders have expired in the city, while they sought them food to revive their soul.
BLB: I called out to my lovers, they deceived me; my priests and my elders died off in the city while they sought food for themselves and to restore their soul.

ÅB: Jeg ropte på mine elskere; de svek meg. Mine prester og mine eldste oppgav ånden i byen da de søkte etter mat for å oppholde livet.
OTB: Jeg ropte til mine allierte, men de forrådte meg. Mine prester og eldste omkom i byen mens de søkte mat for å opprettholde sine liv.
B1930: Jeg ropte på mine elskere; de svek mig. Mine prester og mine eldste opgav ånden i byen da de søkte efter mat for å opholde livet.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

Lamentations 1:11
All her people groan as they search for bread. They have traded their treasures for food to keep themselves alive. Look, O LORD, and consider, for I have become despised.
Read in context
Lamentations 2:20
Look, O LORD, and consider: Whom have You ever treated like this? Should women eat their offspring, the infants they have nurtured? Should priests and prophets be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?
Read in context
Lamentations 1:2
She weeps aloud in the night, with tears upon her cheeks. Among all her lovers there is no one to comfort her. All her friends have betrayed her; they have become her enemies.
Read in context
Job 19:13–19
He has removed my brothers from me; my acquaintances have abandoned me.
Read in context
Jeremiah 27:13–15
Why should you and your people die by sword and famine and plague, as the LORD has decreed against any nation that does not serve the king of Babylon?
Read in context
Jeremiah 37:7–9
“This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says that you are to tell the king of Judah, who sent you to Me: Behold, Pharaoh’s army, which has marched out to help you, will go back to its own land of Egypt.
Read in context
Lamentations 4:17
All the while our eyes were failing as we looked in vain for help. We watched from our towers for a nation that could not save us.
Read in context
Jeremiah 2:28
But where are the gods you made for yourselves? Let them rise up in your time of trouble and save you if they can; for your gods are as numerous as your cities, O Judah.
Read in context