Lamentations 2:5-7

The Voice

⁵ Enemy of ours—our God—who would have thought?
    Yet the Lord chewed up Israel,
Swallowed its mighty palaces;
    He spit out fortresses and reduced them to dust.
God increased suffering and sorrow
    to a fever pitch in daughter Judah.

⁶ Felling His own dwelling like a garden hut,
    God destroyed His meeting place;
He did away with the sacred festivals and Sabbaths in Zion,
    and in fierce anger
He ignored and spurned our leaders—
    our king and priests alike.

⁷ God disdained the most sacred religious spots—
    His altar, His sanctuary, the centerpiece of our tradition.
The Lord gave our enemy full charge of the city,
    palaces and all.
And in the temple itself, the Eternal’s house,
    they hoot and holler as if it’s one of our sacred festivals.