Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction,
David said, 
"It is good for me,"
And of her miseries,
"That I have been afflicted."
All her pleasant things,
"That I might learn thy statutes."
That she had in the days of old,
When the Judges led Israel.
When her people fell into the hand of the enemy,
Moab, Edom and Philistia,
And none did help her;
Isaiah said, 
"In quietness and confidence shall be your strength."
The adversaries saw her,
What greed and vanity abounded,
And did mock at her Sabbaths.
They still do.

And from the daughter of Zion,
To whom the command came not to stir up the Beloved,
Whose help was sought to find the Shulamite's lover,
All her beauty is departed: 
Her princes;
The wise, the just, the meek, 
Are become like harts that find no pasture, 
And they are gone,
I sought them but I found them not.
Their wisdom, justice and meekness gone
They were weakened by iniquities and
Without strength before the pursuer.

Her adversaries are the chief,
They will not, cannot be denied.
Her enemies prosper,
Building, growing, gaining.
For the Lord hath afflicted her,
The rod falls hardest on the hardened heart.
For the multitude of her transgressions,
So many, so vain.
Her children are gone,
Taken suddenly, like Job's.
Into captivity before the enemy,
They will not, cannot be denied.