Lamentations 4
4
The Punishment of Jerusalem
The Prophet Speaks:
1The purest gold is ruined
and has lost its shine;
jewels from the temple
lie scattered in the streets.
2These are Zion's people,
worth more than purest gold;
yet they are counted worthless
like dishes of clay.
3Even jackals#4.3 jackals: Desert animals related to wolves, but smaller. nurse their young,
but my people are like ostriches
that abandon their own.
4Babies are so thirsty
that their tongues are stuck
to the roof of the mouth.
Children go begging for food,
but no one gives them any.
5All who ate expensive foods
lie starving in the streets;
those who grew up in luxury
now sit on trash heaps.
6 #
Gn 19.24. My nation was punished worse
than the people of Sodom,
whose city was destroyed
in a flash without the help
of human hands.#4.6 hands: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 6.
7The leaders of Jerusalem
were purer than snow
and whiter than milk;
their bodies were healthy
and glowed like jewels.#4.7 jewels: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 7.
8Now they are blacker than tar,
and no one recognizes them;
their skin clings to their bones
and is drier than firewood.
9Being killed with a sword
is better than slowly
starving to death.
10 #
Dt 28.56,57; Ez 5.10. Life in the city is so bad
that loving mothers have boiled
and eaten their own children.
11The Lord was so fiercely angry
that he burned the city of Zion
to the ground.
12Not a king on this earth
or the people of any nation
believed enemies could break
through her gates.
13Jerusalem was punished because
her prophets and her priests
had sinned and caused the death
of innocent victims.
14Yes, her prophets and priests
were covered with blood;
no one would come near them,
as they wandered
from street to street.
15Instead, everyone shouted,
“Go away! Don't touch us!
You're filthy and unfit
to belong to God's people!”
So they had to leave
and become refugees.
But foreign nations told them,
“You can't stay here!”#4.15 here: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 15.
16The Lord is the one
who sent them scattering,
and he has forgotten them.
No respect or kindness
will be shown
to the priests or leaders.
17Our eyes became weary,
hopelessly looking
for help from a nation#4.17 nation: Egypt, a former ally of Judah.
that could not save us.
18Enemies hunted us down
on every public street.
Our time was up;
our doom was near.
19They swooped down faster
than eagles from the sky.
They hunted for us in the hills
and set traps to catch us
out in the desert.
20The Lord's chosen leader#4.20 chosen leader: Probably Zedekiah, the last king of Judah, taken away to Babylonia in 586 b.c.
was our hope for survival!
We thought he would keep us safe
somewhere among the nations,
but even he was caught
in one of their traps.
21You people of Edom
can celebrate now!
But your time will come
to suffer and stagger
around naked.
22The people of Zion
have paid for their sins,
and the Lord will soon
let them return home.
But, people of Edom,
you will be punished,
and your sins exposed.
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Lamentations 4
4
Zion Is Punished
1How the gold has grown dim,
the pure gold has changed.
The stones of holiness are scattered
at the head of every street.
2The precious sons of Zion
weighed against fine gold,
how they are thought of as earthen vessels of clay,
the work of the potter’s hands.
3Even the jackal bears the beast
and nurses their cubs;
but the daughter of my people has become ruthless,
like ostriches in the wilderness.
4The tongue of the nursling cleaves
to its palate in thirst.
Children beg for food,
no one lays it out before them.#Literally “nothing spreads to them”
5The ones who eat delicacies,
they are ruined in the streets;
the ones nurtured in purple
lie on piles of trash.
6The iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater
than the sin of Sodom;
it was overthrown in a moment
and no hands were laid on her.
7Her princes were purer than snow,
they were whiter than milk;
their bodies were more ruddy than rubies,
sapphire their appearance.
8Now their appearance is blacker than soot,
they are not recognized in the streets;
their skin has shriveled on their bones,
it has become dry like wood.
9Happier were the victims of the sword
than the victims of famine;
they have pined away, very hungry
for the crops of my field.
10The hands of compassionate women,
have cooked their children;
they became as something to eat
in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
11Yahweh has completed his anger,
he has poured out his fierce anger;#Literally “the fierce anger of his nose”
he has kindled a fire in Zion,
it consumed her#Or “its” foundations.
12The kings of the earth did not believe,
and all the inhabitants of the world,
that a foe and an enemy could enter
into the gates of Jerusalem.
13Because of the sins of her prophets,
the guilt of her priests,
who shed blood in her midst,
of righteous people.
14They wander blindly in the streets;
they were defiled with the blood,
their clothes
could not be touched.
15“Go away! Defiled!” they shout to them.
“Go away! Go away! Do not touch!”
so they left, they left; it was said among the nations,
“They will no longer dwell with us.”#Literally “They will no longer be here as aliens”
16The presence of Yahweh has scattered them,
he will no longer watch over them;
they did not honor the priests,#Literally “they did not lift up the faces of the priests”
they did not show mercy to elders.
17Still our eyes failed,
looking for our help in vain;
in our watchtower, we kept watch
for a nation that could not save.
18They hunted our steps,
from walking in our streets;
our end has come near, our days are finished,#Literally “our days are filled”
our end has come.
19Our pursuers were swifter
than the eagles of the heavens;
they chased us on the mountains,
they have set an ambush for us in the desert.
20The breath of our nostrils, the anointed one of Yahweh,
was captured in their pits;
of whom we said, “In his shadow
we will live among the nations.”
21Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom,
you who dwell in the land of Uz;
but to you also the cup will pass,
you will become drunk and strip yourself bare.
22The punishment of your iniquity is completed, O daughter of Zion,
your exile will not continue;
but he will punish your iniquity, O daughter of Edom,
he will reveal your sins.
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