"The Lord has rejected His own altar, He despises His own sanctuary. He has given Jerusalem's palaces to her enemies. They shout in the Lord's temple as though it were a day of celebration.

The Lord was determined to destroy the walls of Jerusalem. He made careful plans for their destruction, then He went ahead and did it. Therefore, the ramparts and walls have fallen down before Him.

Jerusalem's gates have sunk into the ground. All their locks and bars are destroyed, for He has smashed them. Her kings and princes have been exiled to distant lands; the law is no more. Her prophets receive no more visions from the Lord.

The leaders of Jerusalem sit on the ground in silence, clothed in sackcloth. They throw dust on their heads in sorrow and despair. The young women of Jerusalem hang their heads in shame.

I have creid until the tears no longer come. My heart is broken, my spirit poured out, as I see what has happened to my people. Little children and tiny babies are fainting and dying in the streets.

'Mama, we want food,' they cry, and they collapse in their mothers' arms. Their lives ebb away like the life of a warrior wounded in battle.

In all the world has there ever been such sorrow? O daughter of Jerusalem, to what can I compare your anguish? O virgin daughter of Zion, how can I comfort you? For your wound is as deep as the sea. Who can heal you?"

My friend calls this Truthful Thursday and I agree.  In my (self named) idiot bible (aka The One Year Bible) we started Lamentations yesterday and OH how I look forward to this book every year.  When I read it, I can't help but shout it alound... the pain, the anguish, the brokeness, the truthfulness.

"But I called on your name, Lord, deep within the well, and you heard me! You listened to my pleading; you heard my weeping! Yes, you came to my despairing cry and told me, 'Do not fear.'"

For me the whole book cuts deep to the heart... yes, to wounds as deep as the sea.