Distress of the Siege Described
1How dark the gold has become,
How the pure gold has changed!
The sacred stones are spilled out
At the Lit headcorner of every street.
2The precious sons of Zion,
Weighed against pure gold,
How they are regarded as earthenware jars,
The work of a potter’s hands!
3Even jackals offer the breast,
They nurse their young;
But the daughter of my people has proved herself cruel,
Like ostriches in the wilderness.
4The tongue of the infant clings
To the roof of its mouth because of thirst;
The children ask for bread,
But no one breaks it for them.
5Those who used to eat delicacies
Are made to tremble in the streets;
Those who were raised in crimson clothing
Embrace garbage heaps.
6For the Or punishment for wrongdoingwrongdoing of the daughter of my people
Is greater than the Or punishment for sinsin of Sodom,
Which was overthrown as in a moment,
I.e., without human intervention
And no hands were turned toward her.
7Her Or Naziritesconsecrated ones were purer than snow,
They shined more than milk;
They were more ruddy in Lit bonesbody than pearls of coral,
Their form was like Heb sappirlapis lazuli.
8Their appearance is darker than soot,
They are not recognized in the streets;
Their skin is shriveled on their bones,
It is dry, it has become like wood.
9Better off are those killed by the sword
Than those killed by hunger;
For they Lit flow awaywaste away, Lit pierced throughstricken
By the lack of the produce of the field.
10The hands of compassionate women
Boiled their own children;
They became food for them
Due to the destruction of the daughter of my people.
11The Lord has expended His wrath,
He has poured out His fierce anger;
And He has kindled a fire in Zion,
And it has consumed its foundations.
12The kings of the earth did not believe,
Nor did any of the inhabitants of the world,
That the adversary and the enemy
Would enter the gates of Jerusalem.
13Because of the sins of her prophets
And the wrongdoings of her priests,
Who have shed in her midst
The blood of the righteous,
14They wandered, blind, in the streets;
They were defiled with blood,
Such that no one could touch their garments.
15“Keep away! Unclean!” Or they (other people) cried to themthey cried out of themselves.
“Keep away, keep away, do not touch!”
For they distanced themselves as well as wandered;
People among the nations said,
“They shall not continue to reside with us.”
16The presence of the Lord has scattered them,
He will not continue to look at them;
They did not Lit lift up the faces ofhonor the priests,
They did not favor the elders.
17Yet our eyes failed,
Looking for Lit our helphelp was useless;
At our observation point we have watched
For a nation that could not save.
18They hunted our steps
So that we could not walk in our streets;
Our end drew near,
Our days were Lit fullfinished
For our end had come.
19Our pursuers were swifter
Than the eagles of the sky;
They chased us on the mountains,
They waited in ambush for us in the wilderness.
Was captured in their pits,
Of whom we had said, “I.e., under his protectionIn his shadow
We shall live among the nations.”
21Rejoice and be joyful, daughter of Edom,
Who lives in the land of Uz;
But the cup will pass to you as well,
You will become drunk and expose yourself.
22
The punishment of your wrongdoing has been completed, daughter of Zion;
He will no longer exile you.
But He will punish your wrongdoing, daughter of Edom;
He will expose your sins!
New American Standard Bible
Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020
by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved.
For Permission to Quote Information visit www.lockman.org
