Lamentations 1:4

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.

³ Judah has gone into exile under affliction and harsh slavery; she dwells among the nations but finds no place to rest. All her pursuers have overtaken her in the midst of her distress.

The roads to Zion mourn, because no one comes to her appointed feasts. All her gates are deserted; her priests groan, her maidens grieve, and she herself is bitter with anguish.

⁵ Her foes have become her masters; her enemies are at ease. For the LORD has brought her grief because of her many transgressions. Her children have gone away as captives before the enemy.

⁶ All the splendor has departed from the Daughter of Zion. Her princes are like deer that find no pasture; they lack the strength to flee in the face of the hunter.

Here the Bible tells a story about someone else. Ask yourself what it can say to us today. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB: The roads to Zion mourn, because no one comes to her appointed feasts. All her gates are deserted; her priests groan, her maidens grieve, and she herself is bitter with anguish.
KJV: The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn feasts: all her gates are desolate: her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness.
WEB: The roads to Zion mourn, because no one comes to the solemn assembly. All her gates are desolate. Her priests sigh. Her virgins are afflicted, and she herself is in bitterness.
ASV: The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn assembly; All her gates are desolate, her priests do sigh: Her virgins are afflicted, and she herself is in bitterness.
DARBY: The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn assembly: all her gates are desolate; her priests sigh, her virgins are in grief; and as for her, she is in bitterness.
BLB: The paths to Zion [are] mourning no one is coming to the appointed feast, [and] all her gates are desolate; her priests are groaning, her virgins are grieving, and it is bitter for her.

ÅB: Veiene til Sion sørger fordi ingen kommer til festene; alle dets porter er øde, dets prester sukker, dets jomfruer er sorgfulle, og det selv er bitterlig bedrøvet.
OTB: Veiene til Sion sørger, for ingen kommer til hennes bestemte høytider. Alle hennes porter er øde; hennes prester sukker, hennes unge kvinner er urolige, og hun selv er i bitter angst.
B1930: Veiene til Sion sørger fordi ingen kommer til festene; alle dets porter er øde, dets prester sukker, dets jomfruer er sorgfulle, og det selv er bitterlig bedrøvet.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

Joel 1:8–13
Wail like a virgin dressed in sackcloth, grieving for the husband of her youth.
Read in context
Jeremiah 9:11
“And I will make Jerusalem a heap of rubble, a haunt for jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”
Read in context
Lamentations 2:6–7
He has laid waste His tabernacle like a garden booth; He has destroyed His place of meeting. The LORD has made Zion forget her appointed feasts and Sabbaths. In His fierce anger He has despised both king and priest.
Read in context
Jeremiah 14:2
“Judah mourns and her gates languish. Her people wail for the land, and a cry goes up from Jerusalem.
Read in context
Isaiah 24:4–6
The earth mourns and withers; the world languishes and fades; the exalted of the earth waste away.
Read in context
Jeremiah 10:22
Listen! The sound of a report is coming— a great commotion from the land to the north. The cities of Judah will be made a desolation, a haunt for jackals.
Read in context
Micah 3:12
Therefore, because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, and the temple mount a wooded ridge.
Read in context
Jeremiah 33:10–12
This is what the LORD says: In this place you say is a wasteland without man or beast, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are deserted—inhabited by neither man nor beast—there will be heard again
Read in context