1Chapter
Lament over Jerusalem
1How she sits alone,
the city once crowded with people!
She who was great among the nations
has become like a widow.
The princess among the provinces
has been put to forced labor.
2She weeps bitterly during the night, with tears on her cheeks. There is no one to offer her comfort, not one from all her lovers. All her friends have betrayed her; they have become her enemies.
3Judah has gone into exile following affliction and harsh slavery; she lives among the nations but finds no place to rest. All her pursuers have overtaken her in narrow places.
4The roads to Zion mourn, for no one comes to the appointed festivals. All her gates are deserted; her priests groan, her young women grieve, and she herself is bitter.
5Her adversaries have become her masters; her enemies are at ease, for the Lord has made her suffer because of her many transgressions. Her children have gone away as captives before the adversary.
6All the splendor has vanished from Daughter Zion. Her leaders are like stags that find no pasture; they stumble away exhausted before the hunter.
7During the days of her affliction and homelessness Jerusalem remembers all her precious belongings that were hers in days of old. When her people fell into the adversary’s hand, she had no one to help. The adversaries looked at her, laughing over her downfall.
8Jerusalem has sinned grievously; therefore, she has become an object of scorn. All who honored her now despise her, for they have seen her nakedness. She herself groans and turns away.
9Her uncleanness stains her skirts. She never considered her end. Her downfall was astonishing; there was no one to comfort her. Lord, look on my affliction, for the enemy boasts.
10The adversary has seized all her precious belongings. She has even seen the nations enter her sanctuary— those you had forbidden to enter your assembly.
11All her people groan while they search for bread. They have traded their precious belongings for food in order to stay alive. Lord, look and see how I have become despised.
12Is this nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and see! Is there any pain like mine, which was dealt out to me, which the Lord made me suffer on the day of his burning anger?
13He sent fire from on high into my bones; he made it descend. He spread a net for my feet and turned me back. He made me desolate, sick all day long.
14My transgressions have been formed into a yoke, fastened together by his hand; they have been placed on my neck, and the Lord has broken my strength. He has handed me over to those I cannot withstand.
15The Lord has rejected all the mighty men within me. He has summoned an army against me to crush my young warriors. The Lord has trampled Virgin Daughter Judah like grapes in a winepress.
16I weep because of these things; my eyes flow with tears. For there is no one nearby to comfort me, no one to keep me alive. My children are desolate because the enemy has prevailed.
17Zion stretches out her hands; there is no one to comfort her. The Lord has issued a decree against Jacob that his neighbors should be his adversaries. Jerusalem has become something impure among them.
18The Lord is just, for I have rebelled against his command. Listen, all you people; look at my pain. My young women and young men have gone into captivity.
19I called to my lovers, but they betrayed me. My priests and elders perished in the city while searching for food to keep themselves alive.
20Lord, see how I am in distress. I am churning within; my heart is broken, for I have been very rebellious. Outside, the sword takes the children; inside, there is death.
21People have heard me groaning, but there is no one to comfort me. All my enemies have heard of my misfortune; they are glad that you have caused it. Bring on the day you have announced, so that they may become like me.
22Let all their wickedness come before you, and deal with them as you have dealt with me because of all my transgressions. For my groans are many, and I am sick at heart.
2She weeps bitterly during the night, with tears on her cheeks. There is no one to offer her comfort, not one from all her lovers. All her friends have betrayed her; they have become her enemies.
3Judah has gone into exile following affliction and harsh slavery; she lives among the nations but finds no place to rest. All her pursuers have overtaken her in narrow places.
4The roads to Zion mourn, for no one comes to the appointed festivals. All her gates are deserted; her priests groan, her young women grieve, and she herself is bitter.
5Her adversaries have become her masters; her enemies are at ease, for the Lord has made her suffer because of her many transgressions. Her children have gone away as captives before the adversary.
6All the splendor has vanished from Daughter Zion. Her leaders are like stags that find no pasture; they stumble away exhausted before the hunter.
7During the days of her affliction and homelessness Jerusalem remembers all her precious belongings that were hers in days of old. When her people fell into the adversary’s hand, she had no one to help. The adversaries looked at her, laughing over her downfall.
8Jerusalem has sinned grievously; therefore, she has become an object of scorn. All who honored her now despise her, for they have seen her nakedness. She herself groans and turns away.
9Her uncleanness stains her skirts. She never considered her end. Her downfall was astonishing; there was no one to comfort her. Lord, look on my affliction, for the enemy boasts.
10The adversary has seized all her precious belongings. She has even seen the nations enter her sanctuary— those you had forbidden to enter your assembly.
11All her people groan while they search for bread. They have traded their precious belongings for food in order to stay alive. Lord, look and see how I have become despised.
12Is this nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and see! Is there any pain like mine, which was dealt out to me, which the Lord made me suffer on the day of his burning anger?
13He sent fire from on high into my bones; he made it descend. He spread a net for my feet and turned me back. He made me desolate, sick all day long.
14My transgressions have been formed into a yoke, fastened together by his hand; they have been placed on my neck, and the Lord has broken my strength. He has handed me over to those I cannot withstand.
15The Lord has rejected all the mighty men within me. He has summoned an army against me to crush my young warriors. The Lord has trampled Virgin Daughter Judah like grapes in a winepress.
16I weep because of these things; my eyes flow with tears. For there is no one nearby to comfort me, no one to keep me alive. My children are desolate because the enemy has prevailed.
17Zion stretches out her hands; there is no one to comfort her. The Lord has issued a decree against Jacob that his neighbors should be his adversaries. Jerusalem has become something impure among them.
18The Lord is just, for I have rebelled against his command. Listen, all you people; look at my pain. My young women and young men have gone into captivity.
19I called to my lovers, but they betrayed me. My priests and elders perished in the city while searching for food to keep themselves alive.
20Lord, see how I am in distress. I am churning within; my heart is broken, for I have been very rebellious. Outside, the sword takes the children; inside, there is death.
21People have heard me groaning, but there is no one to comfort me. All my enemies have heard of my misfortune; they are glad that you have caused it. Bring on the day you have announced, so that they may become like me.
22Let all their wickedness come before you, and deal with them as you have dealt with me because of all my transgressions. For my groans are many, and I am sick at heart.
2Chapter
Judgment on Jerusalem
1How the Lord has overshadowed
Daughter Zion with his anger!
He has thrown down Israel’s glory
from heaven to earth.
He did not acknowledge his footstool
in the day of his anger.
2Without compassion the Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob. In his wrath he has demolished the fortified cities of Daughter Judah. He brought them to the ground and defiled the kingdom and its leaders.
3He has cut off every horn of Israel in his burning anger and withdrawn his right hand in the presence of the enemy. He has blazed against Jacob like a flaming fire that consumes everything.
4He has strung his bow like an enemy; his right hand is positioned like an adversary. He has killed everyone who was the delight to the eye, pouring out his wrath like fire on the tent of Daughter Zion.
5The Lord is like an enemy; he has swallowed up Israel. He swallowed up all its palaces and destroyed its fortified cities. He has multiplied mourning and lamentation within Daughter Judah.
6He has wrecked his temple as if it were merely a shack in a field, destroying his place of meeting. The Lord has abolished appointed festivals and Sabbaths in Zion. He has despised king and priest in his fierce anger.
7The Lord has rejected his altar, repudiated his sanctuary; he has handed the walls of her palaces over to the enemy. They have raised a shout in the house of the Lord as on the day of an appointed festival.
8The Lord determined to destroy the wall of Daughter Zion. He stretched out a measuring line and did not restrain himself from destroying. He made the ramparts and walls grieve; together they waste away.
9Zion’s gates have fallen to the ground; he has destroyed and shattered the bars on her gates. Her king and her leaders live among the nations, instruction is no more, and even her prophets receive no vision from the Lord.
10The elders of Daughter Zion sit on the ground in silence. They have thrown dust on their heads and put on sackcloth. The young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground.
11My eyes are worn out from weeping; I am churning within. My heart is poured out in grief because of the destruction of my dear people, because infants and nursing babies faint in the streets of the city.
12They cry out to their mothers, “Where is the grain and wine?” as they faint like the wounded in the streets of the city, as their life pours out in the arms of their mothers.
13What can I say on your behalf? What can I compare you to, Daughter Jerusalem? What can I liken you to, so that I may console you, Virgin Daughter Zion? For your ruin is as vast as the sea. Who can heal you?
14Your prophets saw visions for you that were empty and deceptive; they did not reveal your iniquity and so restore your fortunes. They saw pronouncements for you that were empty and misleading.
15All who pass by scornfully clap their hands at you. They hiss and shake their heads at Daughter Jerusalem: Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth?
16All your enemies open their mouths against you. They hiss and gnash their teeth, saying, “We have swallowed her up. This is the day we have waited for! We have lived to see it.”
17The Lord has done what he planned; he has accomplished his decree, which he ordained in days of old. He has demolished without compassion, letting the enemy gloat over you and exalting the horn of your adversaries.
18The hearts of the people cry out to the Lord. Wall of Daughter Zion, let your tears run down like a river day and night. Give yourself no relief and your eyes no rest.
19Arise, cry out in the night from the first watch of the night. Pour out your heart like water before the Lord’s presence. Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your children who are fainting from hunger at the head of every street.
20Lord, look and consider to whom you have done this. Should women eat their own children, the infants they have nurtured? Should priests and prophets be killed in the Lord’s sanctuary?
21Both young and old are lying on the ground in the streets. My young women and young men have fallen by the sword. You have killed them in the day of your anger, slaughtering without compassion.
22You summon those who terrorize me on every side, as if for an appointed festival day; on the day of the Lord’s anger no one escaped or survived. My enemy has destroyed those I nurtured and reared.
2Without compassion the Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob. In his wrath he has demolished the fortified cities of Daughter Judah. He brought them to the ground and defiled the kingdom and its leaders.
3He has cut off every horn of Israel in his burning anger and withdrawn his right hand in the presence of the enemy. He has blazed against Jacob like a flaming fire that consumes everything.
4He has strung his bow like an enemy; his right hand is positioned like an adversary. He has killed everyone who was the delight to the eye, pouring out his wrath like fire on the tent of Daughter Zion.
5The Lord is like an enemy; he has swallowed up Israel. He swallowed up all its palaces and destroyed its fortified cities. He has multiplied mourning and lamentation within Daughter Judah.
6He has wrecked his temple as if it were merely a shack in a field, destroying his place of meeting. The Lord has abolished appointed festivals and Sabbaths in Zion. He has despised king and priest in his fierce anger.
7The Lord has rejected his altar, repudiated his sanctuary; he has handed the walls of her palaces over to the enemy. They have raised a shout in the house of the Lord as on the day of an appointed festival.
8The Lord determined to destroy the wall of Daughter Zion. He stretched out a measuring line and did not restrain himself from destroying. He made the ramparts and walls grieve; together they waste away.
9Zion’s gates have fallen to the ground; he has destroyed and shattered the bars on her gates. Her king and her leaders live among the nations, instruction is no more, and even her prophets receive no vision from the Lord.
10The elders of Daughter Zion sit on the ground in silence. They have thrown dust on their heads and put on sackcloth. The young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground.
11My eyes are worn out from weeping; I am churning within. My heart is poured out in grief because of the destruction of my dear people, because infants and nursing babies faint in the streets of the city.
12They cry out to their mothers, “Where is the grain and wine?” as they faint like the wounded in the streets of the city, as their life pours out in the arms of their mothers.
13What can I say on your behalf? What can I compare you to, Daughter Jerusalem? What can I liken you to, so that I may console you, Virgin Daughter Zion? For your ruin is as vast as the sea. Who can heal you?
14Your prophets saw visions for you that were empty and deceptive; they did not reveal your iniquity and so restore your fortunes. They saw pronouncements for you that were empty and misleading.
15All who pass by scornfully clap their hands at you. They hiss and shake their heads at Daughter Jerusalem: Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth?
16All your enemies open their mouths against you. They hiss and gnash their teeth, saying, “We have swallowed her up. This is the day we have waited for! We have lived to see it.”
17The Lord has done what he planned; he has accomplished his decree, which he ordained in days of old. He has demolished without compassion, letting the enemy gloat over you and exalting the horn of your adversaries.
18The hearts of the people cry out to the Lord. Wall of Daughter Zion, let your tears run down like a river day and night. Give yourself no relief and your eyes no rest.
19Arise, cry out in the night from the first watch of the night. Pour out your heart like water before the Lord’s presence. Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your children who are fainting from hunger at the head of every street.
20Lord, look and consider to whom you have done this. Should women eat their own children, the infants they have nurtured? Should priests and prophets be killed in the Lord’s sanctuary?
21Both young and old are lying on the ground in the streets. My young women and young men have fallen by the sword. You have killed them in the day of your anger, slaughtering without compassion.
22You summon those who terrorize me on every side, as if for an appointed festival day; on the day of the Lord’s anger no one escaped or survived. My enemy has destroyed those I nurtured and reared.
3Chapter
Hope through God’s Mercy
1I am the man who has seen affliction
under the rod of God’s wrath. 2He has driven me away and forced me to walk
in darkness instead of light. 3Yes, he repeatedly turns his hand
against me all day long.
4He has worn away my flesh and skin; he has broken my bones. 5He has laid siege against me, encircling me with bitterness and hardship. 6He has made me dwell in darkness like those who have been dead for ages.
7He has walled me in so I cannot get out; he has weighed me down with chains. 8Even when I cry out and plead for help, he blocks out my prayer. 9He has walled in my ways with blocks of stone; he has made my paths crooked.
10He is a bear waiting in ambush, a lion in hiding. 11He forced me off my way and tore me to pieces; he left me desolate. 12He strung his bow and set me as the target for his arrow.
13He pierced my kidneys with shafts from his quiver. 14I am a laughingstock to all my people, mocked by their songs all day long. 15He filled me with bitterness, satiated me with wormwood.
16He ground my teeth with gravel and made me cower in the dust. 17I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is. 18Then I thought, “My future is lost, as well as my hope from the Lord.”
19Remember my affliction and my homelessness, the wormwood and the poison. 20I continually remember them and have become depressed. 21Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope:
22Because of the Lord’s faithful love we do not perish, for his mercies never end. 23They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness! 24I say, “The Lord is my portion, therefore I will put my hope in him.”
25The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the person who seeks him. 26It is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord. 27It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is still young.
28Let him sit alone and be silent, for God has disciplined him. 29Let him put his mouth in the dust — perhaps there is still hope. 30Let him offer his cheek to the one who would strike him; let him be filled with disgrace.
31For the Lord will not reject us forever. 32Even if he causes suffering, he will show compassion according to the abundance of his faithful love. 33For he does not enjoy bringing affliction or suffering on mankind.
34Crushing all the prisoners of the land beneath one’s feet, 35denying justice to a man in the presence of the Most High, 36or subverting a person in his lawsuit — the Lord does not approve of these things.
37Who is there who speaks and it happens, unless the Lord has ordained it? 38Do not both adversity and good come from the mouth of the Most High? 39Why should any living person complain, any man, because of the punishment for his sins?
40Let’s examine and probe our ways, and turn back to the Lord. 41Let’s lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven: 42“We have sinned and rebelled; you have not forgiven.
43“You have covered yourself in anger and pursued us; you have killed without compassion. 44You have covered yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can get through. 45You have made us disgusting filth among the peoples.
46“All our enemies open their mouths against us. 47We have experienced panic and pitfall, devastation and destruction.” 48My eyes flow with streams of tears because of the destruction of my dear people.
49My eyes overflow unceasingly, without end, 50until the Lord looks down from heaven and sees. 51My eyes bring me grief because of the fate of all the women in my city.
52For no reason, my enemies hunted me like a bird. 53They smothered my life in a pit and threw stones on me. 54Water flooded over my head, and I thought, “I’m going to die!”
55I called on your name, Lord, from the depths of the pit. 56You heard my plea: Do not ignore my cry for relief. 57You came near whenever I called you; you said, “Do not be afraid.”
58You championed my cause, Lord; you redeemed my life. 59Lord, you saw the wrong done to me; judge my case. 60You saw all their vengefulness, all their plots against me.
61Lord, you heard their insults, all their plots against me. 62The slander and murmuring of my opponents attack me all day long. 63When they sit and when they rise, look, I am mocked by their songs.
64You will pay them back what they deserve, Lord, according to the work of their hands. 65You will give them a heart filled with anguish. May your curse be on them! 66You will pursue them in anger and destroy them under your heavens.
4He has worn away my flesh and skin; he has broken my bones. 5He has laid siege against me, encircling me with bitterness and hardship. 6He has made me dwell in darkness like those who have been dead for ages.
7He has walled me in so I cannot get out; he has weighed me down with chains. 8Even when I cry out and plead for help, he blocks out my prayer. 9He has walled in my ways with blocks of stone; he has made my paths crooked.
10He is a bear waiting in ambush, a lion in hiding. 11He forced me off my way and tore me to pieces; he left me desolate. 12He strung his bow and set me as the target for his arrow.
13He pierced my kidneys with shafts from his quiver. 14I am a laughingstock to all my people, mocked by their songs all day long. 15He filled me with bitterness, satiated me with wormwood.
16He ground my teeth with gravel and made me cower in the dust. 17I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is. 18Then I thought, “My future is lost, as well as my hope from the Lord.”
19Remember my affliction and my homelessness, the wormwood and the poison. 20I continually remember them and have become depressed. 21Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope:
22Because of the Lord’s faithful love we do not perish, for his mercies never end. 23They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness! 24I say, “The Lord is my portion, therefore I will put my hope in him.”
25The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the person who seeks him. 26It is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord. 27It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is still young.
28Let him sit alone and be silent, for God has disciplined him. 29Let him put his mouth in the dust — perhaps there is still hope. 30Let him offer his cheek to the one who would strike him; let him be filled with disgrace.
31For the Lord will not reject us forever. 32Even if he causes suffering, he will show compassion according to the abundance of his faithful love. 33For he does not enjoy bringing affliction or suffering on mankind.
34Crushing all the prisoners of the land beneath one’s feet, 35denying justice to a man in the presence of the Most High, 36or subverting a person in his lawsuit — the Lord does not approve of these things.
37Who is there who speaks and it happens, unless the Lord has ordained it? 38Do not both adversity and good come from the mouth of the Most High? 39Why should any living person complain, any man, because of the punishment for his sins?
40Let’s examine and probe our ways, and turn back to the Lord. 41Let’s lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven: 42“We have sinned and rebelled; you have not forgiven.
43“You have covered yourself in anger and pursued us; you have killed without compassion. 44You have covered yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can get through. 45You have made us disgusting filth among the peoples.
46“All our enemies open their mouths against us. 47We have experienced panic and pitfall, devastation and destruction.” 48My eyes flow with streams of tears because of the destruction of my dear people.
49My eyes overflow unceasingly, without end, 50until the Lord looks down from heaven and sees. 51My eyes bring me grief because of the fate of all the women in my city.
52For no reason, my enemies hunted me like a bird. 53They smothered my life in a pit and threw stones on me. 54Water flooded over my head, and I thought, “I’m going to die!”
55I called on your name, Lord, from the depths of the pit. 56You heard my plea: Do not ignore my cry for relief. 57You came near whenever I called you; you said, “Do not be afraid.”
58You championed my cause, Lord; you redeemed my life. 59Lord, you saw the wrong done to me; judge my case. 60You saw all their vengefulness, all their plots against me.
61Lord, you heard their insults, all their plots against me. 62The slander and murmuring of my opponents attack me all day long. 63When they sit and when they rise, look, I am mocked by their songs.
64You will pay them back what they deserve, Lord, according to the work of their hands. 65You will give them a heart filled with anguish. May your curse be on them! 66You will pursue them in anger and destroy them under your heavens.
4Chapter
Terrors of the Besieged City
1How the gold has become tarnished,
the fine gold become dull!
The stones of the temple lie scattered
at the head of every street.
2Zion’s precious children— once worth their weight in pure gold — how they are regarded as clay jars, the work of a potter’s hands!
3Even jackals offer their breasts to nurse their young, but my dear people have become cruel like ostriches in the wilderness.
4The nursing baby’s tongue clings to the roof of his mouth from thirst. Infants beg for food, but no one gives them any.
5Those who used to eat delicacies are destitute in the streets; those who were reared in purple garments huddle in trash heaps.
6The punishment of my dear people is greater than that of Sodom, which was overthrown in an instant without a hand laid on it.
7Her dignitaries were brighter than snow, whiter than milk; their bodies were more ruddy than coral, their appearance like lapis lazuli.
8Now they appear darker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones; it has become dry like wood.
9Those slain by the sword are better off than those slain by hunger, who waste away, pierced with pain because the fields lack produce.
10The hands of compassionate women have cooked their own children; they became their food during the destruction of my dear people.
11The Lord has exhausted his wrath, poured out his burning anger; he has ignited a fire in Zion, and it has consumed her foundations.
12The kings of the earth and all the world’s inhabitants did not believe that an enemy or adversary could enter Jerusalem’s gates.
13Yet it happened because of the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, who shed the blood of the righteous within her.
14Blind, they stumbled in the streets, defiled by this blood, so that no one dared to touch their garments.
15“Stay away! Unclean!” people shouted at them. “Away, away! Don’t touch us!” So they wandered aimlessly. It was said among the nations, “They can stay here no longer.”
16The Lord himself has scattered them; he no longer watches over them. The priests are not respected; the elders find no favor.
17All the while our eyes were failing as we looked in vain for help; we watched from our towers for a nation that would not save us.
18Our steps were closely followed so that we could not walk in our streets. Our end approached; our time ran out. Our end had come!
19Those who chased us were swifter than eagles in the sky; they relentlessly pursued us over the mountains and ambushed us in the wilderness.
20The Lord’s anointed, the breath of our life, was captured in their traps. We had said about him, “We will live under his protection among the nations.”
21So rejoice and be glad, Daughter Edom, you resident of the land of Uz! Yet the cup will pass to you as well; you will get drunk and expose yourself.
22Daughter Zion, your punishment is complete; he will not lengthen your exile. But he will punish your iniquity, Daughter Edom, and will expose your sins.
2Zion’s precious children— once worth their weight in pure gold — how they are regarded as clay jars, the work of a potter’s hands!
3Even jackals offer their breasts to nurse their young, but my dear people have become cruel like ostriches in the wilderness.
4The nursing baby’s tongue clings to the roof of his mouth from thirst. Infants beg for food, but no one gives them any.
5Those who used to eat delicacies are destitute in the streets; those who were reared in purple garments huddle in trash heaps.
6The punishment of my dear people is greater than that of Sodom, which was overthrown in an instant without a hand laid on it.
7Her dignitaries were brighter than snow, whiter than milk; their bodies were more ruddy than coral, their appearance like lapis lazuli.
8Now they appear darker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones; it has become dry like wood.
9Those slain by the sword are better off than those slain by hunger, who waste away, pierced with pain because the fields lack produce.
10The hands of compassionate women have cooked their own children; they became their food during the destruction of my dear people.
11The Lord has exhausted his wrath, poured out his burning anger; he has ignited a fire in Zion, and it has consumed her foundations.
12The kings of the earth and all the world’s inhabitants did not believe that an enemy or adversary could enter Jerusalem’s gates.
13Yet it happened because of the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, who shed the blood of the righteous within her.
14Blind, they stumbled in the streets, defiled by this blood, so that no one dared to touch their garments.
15“Stay away! Unclean!” people shouted at them. “Away, away! Don’t touch us!” So they wandered aimlessly. It was said among the nations, “They can stay here no longer.”
16The Lord himself has scattered them; he no longer watches over them. The priests are not respected; the elders find no favor.
17All the while our eyes were failing as we looked in vain for help; we watched from our towers for a nation that would not save us.
18Our steps were closely followed so that we could not walk in our streets. Our end approached; our time ran out. Our end had come!
19Those who chased us were swifter than eagles in the sky; they relentlessly pursued us over the mountains and ambushed us in the wilderness.
20The Lord’s anointed, the breath of our life, was captured in their traps. We had said about him, “We will live under his protection among the nations.”
21So rejoice and be glad, Daughter Edom, you resident of the land of Uz! Yet the cup will pass to you as well; you will get drunk and expose yourself.
22Daughter Zion, your punishment is complete; he will not lengthen your exile. But he will punish your iniquity, Daughter Edom, and will expose your sins.
5Chapter
Prayer for Restoration
1Lord, remember what has happened to us.
Look, and see our disgrace! 2Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,
our houses to foreigners. 3We have become orphans, fatherless;
our mothers are widows. 4We must pay for the water we drink;
our wood comes at a price. 5We are closely pursued;
we are tired, and no one offers us rest. 6We made a treaty with Egypt
and with Assyria, to get enough food. 7Our ancestors sinned; they no longer exist,
but we bear their punishment. 8Slaves rule over us;
no one rescues us from them. 9We secure our food at the risk of our lives
because of the sword in the wilderness. 10Our skin is as hot as an oven
from the ravages of hunger. 11Women have been raped in Zion,
virgins in the cities of Judah. 12Princes have been hung up by their hands;
elders are shown no respect. 13Young men labor at millstones;
boys stumble under loads of wood. 14The elders have left the city gate,
the young men, their music. 15Joy has left our hearts;
our dancing has turned to mourning. 16The crown has fallen from our head.
Woe to us, for we have sinned. 17Because of this, our heart is sick;
because of these, our eyes grow dim: 18because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate
and has jackals prowling in it. 19You, Lord, are enthroned forever;
your throne endures from generation to generation. 20Why do you continually forget us,
abandon us for our entire lives? 21Lord, bring us back to yourself, so we may return;
renew our days as in former times, 22unless you have completely rejected us
and are intensely angry with us.
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