Lamentations 1:20

Grief Prayer Discouragement and depression

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.

¹⁹ 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.

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.

²² Let all their wickedness come before You, and deal with them as You have dealt with me because of all my transgressions. For my groans are many, and my heart is faint.

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

Compare

BSB: 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.
KJV: Behold, O LORD; for I am in distress: my bowels are troubled; mine heart is turned within me; for I have grievously rebelled: abroad the sword bereaveth, at home there is as death.
WEB: “Look, LORD; for I am in distress. My heart is troubled. My heart turns over within me, for I have grievously rebelled. Abroad, the sword bereaves. At home, it is like death.
ASV: Behold, O Jehovah; for I am in distress; my heart is troubled; My heart is turned within me; for I have grievously rebelled: Abroad the sword bereaveth, at home there is as death.
DARBY: See, Jehovah, for I am in distress, my bowels are troubled; my heart is turned within me, for I have grievously rebelled: without, the sword hath bereaved [me], within, it is as death.
BLB: See, O YHWH, that distress [is] unto me! My bowels are troubled, My heart is overturned within me because I have surely rebelled. From outside the sword bereaves; in the house [it is] like death.

ÅB: Se, Herre, jeg er i trengsel! Det gjærer i mitt indre, mitt hjerte vender seg i mitt bryst; for jeg har vært gjenstridig; utenfor har sverdet gjort meg barnløs, innenfor er det som døden.
OTB: Se, Herre, hvor plaget jeg er! Jeg er i pine inni meg, og mitt hjerte er omveltet, for jeg har vært svært opprørsk. Utenfor tar sverdet livet; inni er det som døden.
B1930: Se, Herre, jeg er i trengsel! Det gjærer i mitt indre, mitt hjerte vender sig i mitt bryst; for jeg har vært gjenstridig; utenfor har sverdet gjort mig barnløs, innenfor er det som døden.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

Lamentations 2:11
My eyes fail from weeping; I am churning within. My heart is poured out in grief over the destruction of the daughter of my people, because children and infants faint in the streets of the city.
Read in context
Ezekiel 7:15
The sword is outside; plague and famine are within. Those in the country will die by the sword, and those in the city will be devoured by famine and plague.
Read in context
Proverbs 28:13
He who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy.
Read in context
Deuteronomy 32:25
Outside, the sword will take their children, and inside, terror will strike the young man and the young woman, the infant and the gray-haired man.
Read in context
Isaiah 16:11
Therefore my heart laments for Moab like a harp, my inmost being for Kir-heres.
Read in context
Job 30:27
I am churning within and cannot rest; days of affliction confront me.
Read in context
Jeremiah 4:19
My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh, the pain in my chest! My heart pounds within me; I cannot be silent. For I have heard the sound of the horn, the alarm of battle.
Read in context
Psalms 51:3–4
For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.
Read in context