Lamentations 1
English Standard Version (ESV)
How Lonely Sits the City 
1 How lonely sits the city
that was full of people!
How like a widow has she become,
she who was great among the nations!
She who was a princess among the provinces
has become a slave.
2 She weeps bitterly in the night,
with tears on her cheeks; 
among all her lovers
she has none to comfort her;
all her friends have dealt treacherously
with her;
they have become her enemies.
5 Her foes have become the head; her enemies prosper, because the Lord has afflicted her
for the multitude of her transgressions;
her children have gone away,
captives before the foe.
9 Her uncleanness was in her skirts; she took no thought of her future;
therefore her fall is terrible;
she has no comforter.
“O Lord, behold my affliction,
for the enemy has triumphed!”
10 The enemy has stretched out his hands
over all her precious things;
for she has seen the nations
enter her sanctuary,
those whom you forbade
to enter your congregation.
11 All her people groan
as they search for bread;
they trade their treasures for food
to revive their strength.
“Look, O Lord, and see,
for I am despised.”
16 “For these things I weep;
my eyes flow with tears;
for a comforter is far from me,
one to revive my spirit;
my children are desolate,
for the enemy has prevailed.”
18 “The Lord is in the right, for I have rebelled against his word; but hear, all you peoples and see mysuffering; my young women and my young men have gone into captivity.
21 “They heard my groaning, yet there is no one to comfort me.
All my enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that you have done it.
You have brought the day you announced; now let them be as I am.
22 “Let all their evildoing 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.”
Disclaimer & claim: WE the PEOPLE of the LORD trust God.
Nations rise and nations will fall.
The Prophet Jeremiah had warned Judah of their impending fall. Lamentations is the record of their fall from the grace and mercy of God.
Lamentations is indictment of rulers who did not heed the cries of their people
or the leadership of God, the foundation of their former trust.
This world is fallen. Rome fell though it ruled over the land of the King of Kings.
The Lord will return to restore the good stolen from the people in nations no longer free.
Isaiah 59
English Standard Version (ESV)
Evil and Oppression
Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;
2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
8 The way of peace they do not know,
and there is no justice in their paths;
they have made their roads crooked;
no one who treads on them knows peace.
9 Therefore justice is far from us,
and righteousness does not overtake us;
we hope for light, and behold, darkness,
and for brightness, but we walk in gloom.
