The Holy Stones Lie Scattered
1 qHow the gold has grown dim,
how the pure gold is changed!
The holy stones lie scattered
rat the head of every street.
2 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!
3 Even jackals offer the breast;
they nurse their young;
but the daughter of my people has become cruel,
like the ostriches in the wilderness.
4 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.
5 Those who once feasted on delicacies
perish in the streets;
wthose who were brought up in purple
embrace ash heaps.
6 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
7 Her princes were purer than snow,
whiter than milk;
their bodies were more ruddy than coral,
8 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.
9 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, w“Under 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.
Restore Us to Yourself, O Lord
1 cRemember, O Lord, what has befallen us;
look, and see dour disgrace!
2 eOur inheritance has been turned over to strangers,
our homes to foreigners.
3 We have become orphans, fatherless;
our mothers are like widows.
4 We must pay for the water we drink;
the wood we get must be bought.
5 fOur pursuers are at our necks;
we are weary; we are given no rest.
6 We have given the hand to gEgypt, and to gAssyria,
to get bread enough.
7 Our fathers sinned, and are no more;
hand we bear their iniquities.
8 iSlaves rule over us;
there is none to deliver us from their hand.
9 jWe get our bread at the peril of our lives,
because of the sword in the wilderness.
10 kOur skin is hot as an oven
with lthe burning heat of famine.
11 Women are raped in Zion,
young women in the towns of Judah.
12 mPrinces are hung up by their hands;
nno respect is shown to the elders.
13 Young men are compelled to ogrind at the mill,
and boys stagger punder loads of wood.
14 nThe old men have left the city gate,
the young men qtheir music.
15 qThe joy of our hearts has ceased;
rour dancing has been turned to mourning.
16 sThe crown has fallen from our head;
woe to us, for we have sinned!
17 For this tour heart has become sick,
for these things uour eyes have grown dim,
18 for Mount Zion which lies desolate;
vjackals prowl over it.
19 wBut you, O Lord, reign forever;
your throne endures to all generations.
20 xWhy do you forget us forever,
why do you forsake us for so many days?
21 yRestore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored!
Renew our days as of old—
22 zunless you have utterly rejected us,
and you remain exceedingly angry with us.
Book One
The Way of the Righteous and the Wicked
1 Blessed is the man1
who awalks not in bthe counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in cthe way of sinners,
nor dsits in ethe seat of fscoffers;
2 but his gdelight is in the law2 of the Lord,
and on his hlaw he meditates day and night.
3 He is like ia tree
planted by jstreams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its kleaf does not wither.
lIn all that he does, he prospers.
4 The wicked are not so,
but are like mchaff that the wind drives away.
5 Therefore the wicked nwill not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in othe congregation of the righteous;
6 for the Lord pknows qthe way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.
