Lamentations 2; Lamentations 4

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Lamentations 2

The Lord Has Destroyed Without Pity

How the Lord in his anger

has set the daughter of Zion junder a cloud!

kHe has cast down from heaven to earth

the splendor of Israel;

he has not remembered lhis footstool

in the day of his anger.

The Lord mhas swallowed up nwithout mercy

all the habitations of Jacob;

in his wrath ohe has broken down

the strongholds of the daughter of Judah;

he has brought pdown to the ground pin dishonor

the kingdom qand its rulers.

He has cut down in rfierce anger

all sthe might of Israel;

the has withdrawn from them his right hand

in the face of the enemy;

uhe has burned like a flaming fire in Jacob,

consuming all around.

vHe has bent his bow like an enemy,

with his right hand set wlike a foe;

and he has killed all who were delightful in our eyes

in the tent of the daughter of Zion;

he has poured out his fury like fire.

wThe Lord has become like an enemy;

xhe has swallowed up Israel;

yhe has swallowed up all its palaces;

he has laid in ruins its strongholds,

and he has multiplied in the daughter of Judah

zmourning and lamentation.

He has laid waste his booth like a garden,

laid in ruins ahis meeting place;

athe Lord has made Zion forget

festival and bSabbath,

and in his fierce indignation has spurned king and priest.

cThe Lord has scorned his altar,

ddisowned his sanctuary;

ehe has delivered into the hand of the enemy

the walls of her palaces;

fthey raised a clamor in the house of the Lord

as on the day of festival.

gThe Lord determined to lay in ruins

hthe wall of the daughter of Zion;

ihe stretched out the measuring line;

he did not restrain his hand from destroying;

jhe caused rampart and wall to lament;

jthey languished together.

Her gates have sunk into the ground;

khe has ruined kand broken her bars;

lher king and princes are among the nations;

the law is no more,

and mher prophets find

no vision from the Lord.

10  The elders of the daughter of Zion

nsit on the ground oin silence;

pthey have thrown dust on their heads

and qput on sackcloth;

the young women of Jerusalem

have bowed their heads to the ground.

11  rMy eyes are spent with weeping;

smy stomach churns;

tmy bile is poured out to the ground

ubecause of the destruction of the daughter of my people,

vbecause infants and babies wfaint

in the streets of the city.

12  They cry to their mothers,

xWhere is bread and wine?

was they faint like a wounded man

in the streets of the city,

as their life is poured out

on their mothers’ bosom.

13  What can I say for you, yto what compare you,

O daughter of Jerusalem?

yWhat can I liken to you, that I may comfort you,

O virgin daughter of Zion?

zFor your ruin is vast as the sea;

who can heal you?

14  aYour prophets have seen for you

false and deceptive visions;

bthey have not exposed your iniquity

to crestore your fortunes,

dbut have seen for you eoracles

that are false and misleading.

15  All who pass along the way

clap their hands at you;

fthey hiss and wag their heads

at the daughter of Jerusalem:

Is this the city that was called

gthe perfection of beauty,

gthe joy of all the earth?

16  hAll your enemies

rail against you;

they hiss, they gnash their teeth,

they cry: We ihave swallowed her!

Ah, this is the day we longed for;

now we have it; jwe see it!

17  The Lord has done what he purposed;

he has carried out khis word,

which he commanded llong ago;

mhe has thrown down nwithout pity;

ohe has made the enemy rejoice over you

and exalted the pmight of your foes.

18  Their heart cried to the Lord.

O qwall of the daughter of Zion,

rlet tears stream down like a torrent

sday and night!

tGive yourself no rest,

uyour eyes no respite!

19  Arise, vcry out in the night,

at the beginning of the night watches!

wPour out your heart like water

before the presence of the Lord!

xLift your hands to him

for the lives of your children,

ywho faint for hunger

at the head of every street.

20  Look, O Lord, and see!

zWith whom have you dealt thus?

aShould women eat the fruit of their womb,

the children of btheir tender care?

Should cpriest and prophet be killed

in the sanctuary of the Lord?

21  In the dust of the streets

dlie the young and the old;

dmy young women and my young men

have fallen by the sword;

eyou have killed them in the day of your anger,

slaughtering fwithout pity.

22  You summoned as if to ga festival day

hmy terrors on every side,

iand on the day of the anger of the Lord

no one escaped or survived;

jthose whom I held and raised

my enemy destroyed.


Lamentations 4

The Holy Stones Lie Scattered

qHow the gold has grown dim,

how the pure gold is changed!

The holy stones lie scattered

rat the head of every street.

The precious sons of Zion,

worth their weight in sfine gold,

how they are regarded as tearthen pots,

the work of a potter’s hands!

Even jackals offer the breast;

they nurse their young;

but the daughter of my people has become cruel,

like the ostriches in the wilderness.

The tongue of the nursing infant usticks

to the roof of its mouth for thirst;

vthe children beg for food,

but no one gives to them.

Those who once feasted on delicacies

perish in the streets;

wthose who were brought up in purple

embrace ash heaps.

xFor the chastisement1 of the daughter of my people has been greater

than the punishment2 of Sodom,

ywhich was overthrown in a moment,

and no hands were wrung for her.3

Her princes were purer than snow,

whiter than milk;

their bodies were more ruddy than coral,

the beauty of their form4 was like sapphire.5

zNow their face is blacker than soot;

they are not recognized in the streets;

their skin has shriveled on their bones;

it has become as dry as wood.

Happier were the victims of the sword

than the victims of hunger,

who wasted away, pierced

by lack of the fruits of the field.

10  aThe hands of bcompassionate women

chave boiled their own children;

dthey became their food

during the destruction of the daughter of my people.

11  eThe Lord gave full vent to his wrath;

he poured out his hot anger,

and fhe kindled a fire in Zion

that consumed its foundations.

12  gThe kings of the earth did not believe,

nor any of the inhabitants of the world,

that foe or enemy could enter

the gates of Jerusalem.

13  This was for hthe sins of her prophets

and hthe iniquities of her priests,

who shed in the midst of her

the blood of the righteous.

14  iThey wandered, blind, through the streets;

they were so defiled with blood

jthat no one was able to touch

their garments.

15  Away! kUnclean! people cried at them.

Away! Away! Do not touch!

So they became fugitives and wanderers;

people said among the nations,

They shall stay with us no longer.

16  lThe Lord himself6 has scattered them;

he will regard them no more;

mno honor was shown to the priests,

nno favor to the elders.

17  oOur eyes failed, ever watching

ovainly for help;

in our watching we watched

for pa nation which could not save.

18  qThey dogged our steps

so that we could not walk in our streets;

rour end drew near; our days were numbered,

for our end had come.

19  Our pursuers were sswifter

than the eagles in the heavens;

they chased us on the mountains;

they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.

20  tThe breath of our nostrils, uthe Lord’s anointed,

was captured vin their pits,

of whom we said, wUnder his shadow

we shall live among the nations.

21  xRejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom,

you who dwell in ythe land of Uz;

but to you also zthe cup shall pass;

you shall become drunk and strip yourself bare.

22  aThe punishment of your iniquity, O daughter of Zion, is accomplished;

he will keep you in exile no longer;7

but byour iniquity, O daughter of Edom, he will punish;

he will uncover your sins.