The Fall of Jerusalem Recounted
52 zZedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 2 And he adid what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that bJehoiakim had done. 3 For because of the anger of the Lord it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that he ccast them out from his presence.
dAnd Zedekiah erebelled against the king of Babylon. 4 And in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem, and laid siege to it. And they built siegeworks all around it. 5 So the city was besieged till the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. 6 On the ninth day of the fourth month the ffamine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land. 7 Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled and went out from the city by night by the way of a gate between the gtwo walls, by the king’s garden, and the Chaldeans were around the city. And they went in the direction of the Arabah. 8 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and hovertook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from him. 9 Then they captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he passed sentence on him. 10 The king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and also slaughtered all the officials of Judah at Riblah. 11 He iput out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in chains, and the king of Babylon jtook him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his kdeath.
The Temple Burned
12 In the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month—that was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon—lNebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard, who served the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem. 13 mAnd he burned the house of the Lord, and the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down. 14 And all the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, nbroke down all the walls around Jerusalem. 15 And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive some of the poorest of the people and the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had odeserted to the king of Babylon, together with the rest of the artisans. 16 But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard pleft some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and plowmen.
17 And the pillars of bronze that were in the house of the Lord, and the stands and the bronze sea that were in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and carried all the bronze to Babylon. 18 And they took away the pots and the shovels and the snuffers and the basins and the dishes for incense and all the vessels of bronze used in the temple service; 19 also the small bowls and the fire pans and the basins and the pots and the lampstands and the dishes for incense and the bowls for drink offerings. What was of gold the captain of the guard took away as gold, and what was of silver, as silver. 20 As for the two pillars, the one sea, the twelve bronze bulls that were under the sea,1 and the stands, which Solomon the king had made for the house of the Lord, the bronze of all these things was beyond weight. 21 As for the pillars, the height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits,2 its circumference was twelve cubits, and its thickness was four fingers, and it was hollow. 22 On it was a capital of bronze. The height of the one capital was five cubits. A network and pomegranates, all of bronze, were around the capital. And the second pillar had the same, with pomegranates. 23 There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; all the pomegranates were a hundred upon the network all around.
The People Exiled to Babylon
24 And the captain of the guard took qSeraiah the chief priest, and rZephaniah the second priest and the three skeepers of the threshold; 25 and from the city he took an officer who had been in command of the men of war, and seven men of the king’s council, who were found in the city; and the secretary of the commander of the army, who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land, who were found in the midst of the city. 26 And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 27 And the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was taken into exile out of its land.
28 This is the number of the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive: in the seventh year, 3,023 Judeans; 29 in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar he carried away captive from Jerusalem 832 persons; 30 in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Judeans 745 persons; all the persons were 4,600.
Jehoiachin Released from Prison
31 tAnd in the thirty-seventh year of the uexile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, graciously freed3 Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him out of prison. 32 And he spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat above the seats of the kings who were with him in Babylon. 33 So Jehoiachin put off his prison garments. And every day of his life he dined regularly at the king’s table, 34 and for his allowance, a regular allowance was given him by the king, according to his daily needs, until the day of his death, as long as he lived.
Lamentations
How Lonely Sits the City
1 How lonely sits the city
that was full of people!
How like a awidow has she become,
she who was great among the nations!
She who was a princess among the provinces
has become a slave.
2 She weeps bitterly in the night,
with tears on her cheeks;
among all her blovers
she has none to comfort her;
all her friends have dealt treacherously with her;
they have become her enemies.
3 Judah has gone into exile because of affliction1
and hard servitude;
she dwells now among the nations,
but finds cno resting place;
her pursuers have all overtaken her
in the midst of her distress.2
4 The droads to Zion mourn,
for none come to the festival;
all her gates are desolate;
her priests groan;
her virgins have been afflicted,3
and she herself suffers bitterly.
5 Her foes have become the ehead;
her enemies prosper,
because the Lord has afflicted her
for the multitude of her transgressions;
fher children have gone away,
captives before the foe.
6 From the daughter of Zion
all her majesty has departed.
Her princes have become like deer
that find no pasture;
they fled without strength
before the pursuer.
7 Jerusalem remembers
in the days of her affliction and wandering
all the gprecious things
that were hers from days of old.
When her people fell into the hand of the foe,
and there was none to hhelp her,
her foes gloated over her;
they mocked at her downfall.
8 Jerusalem sinned grievously;
therefore she became filthy;
all who honored her despise her,
for they have iseen her nakedness;
she herself groans
and turns her face away.
9 Her uncleanness was in her skirts;
she took no thought of her future;4
therefore her fall is terrible;
she has no comforter.
“O Lord, behold my affliction,
for the enemy has triumphed!”
10 The enemy has stretched out his hands
over all her precious things;
for she has seen the nations
jenter her sanctuary,
those whom you kforbade
to enter your congregation.
11 lAll her people groan
as they search for bread;
they trade their treasures for food
to revive their strength.
“Look, O Lord, and see,
for I am despised.”
12 “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?
Look and see
if there is any sorrow like my sorrow,
which was brought upon me,
which the Lord inflicted
on the day of his fierce anger.
13 “From on high he sent fire;
into my bones5 he made it descend;
he spread a net for my feet;
he turned me back;
he has left me stunned,
faint all the day long.
14 “My transgressions were bound6 into a myoke;
by his hand they were fastened together;
they were set upon my neck;
he caused my strength to fail;
the Lord gave me into the hands
of those whom I cannot withstand.
15 “The Lord rejected
all my mighty men in my midst;
he summoned an assembly against me
to crush my young men;
the Lord has trodden as in a winepress
the virgin daughter of Judah.
16 “For these things nI weep;
my eyes flow with tears;
for a comforter is far from me,
one to revive my spirit;
my children are desolate,
for the enemy has prevailed.”
17 Zion ostretches out her hands,
but there is none to comfort her;
the Lord has commanded against Jacob
that his neighbors should be his foes;
Jerusalem has become
a filthy thing among them.
18 “The Lord is pin the right,
for I have rebelled against his word;
but hear, all you peoples,
and see my suffering;
qmy young women and my young men
have gone into captivity.
19 “I called to my lovers,
but they deceived me;
my priests and elders
perished in the city,
while they sought food
to revive their strength.
20 “Look, O Lord, for I am in distress;
my stomach churns;
my heart is wrung within me,
because I have been very rebellious.
rIn the street the sword bereaves;
in the house it is like death.
21 “They heard7 my groaning,
yet there is no one to comfort me.
All my enemies have heard of my trouble;
they are glad that you have done it.
You have brought8 the day you announced;
now let them be as I am.
22 “Let all their evildoing come before you,
and deal with them
as you have dealt with me
because of all my transgressions;
for my groans are many,
and my heart is faint.”
The Lord Has Destroyed Without Pity
2 How the Lord in his anger
has set the daughter of Zion under a cloud!
He has cast down from heaven to earth
the splendor of Israel;
he has not remembered his sfootstool
in the day of his anger.
2 The Lord has swallowed up twithout mercy
all the habitations of Jacob;
in his wrath he has broken down
the strongholds of the daughter of Judah;
he has brought down to the ground in dishonor
the kingdom and its rulers.
3 He has cut down in fierce anger
all the might of Israel;
he has uwithdrawn from them his right hand
in the face of the enemy;
he has burned like a flaming fire in Jacob,
consuming all around.
4 He has vbent his bow like an enemy,
with his right hand set like 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.
5 The Lord has become like an enemy;
he has swallowed up Israel;
he has swallowed up all its palaces;
he has laid in ruins its wstrongholds,
and he has multiplied in the daughter of Judah
mourning and lamentation.
6 He has laid waste his booth like a garden,
laid in ruins his meeting place;
the Lord has made Zion forget
festival and Sabbath,
and in his fierce indignation has spurned king and priest.
7 The Lord has scorned his altar,
disowned his sanctuary;
he has xdelivered into the hand of the enemy
the walls of her palaces;
they raised a clamor in the house of the Lord
as on the day of festival.
8 The Lord determined to lay in ruins
the wall of the daughter of Zion;
he stretched out the ymeasuring line;
he did not restrain his hand from destroying;
he caused rampart and wall to lament;
they languished together.
9 Her gates have sunk into the ground;
he has ruined and broken her bars;
her king and princes are among the nations;
the law is no more,
and zher prophets find
no vision from the Lord.
10 The elders of the daughter of Zion
asit on the ground in silence;
they have bthrown dust on their heads
and put on sackcloth;
the young women of Jerusalem
have bowed their heads to the ground.
11 My eyes are spent with weeping;
cmy stomach churns;
my bile is poured out to the ground
dbecause of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
because einfants and babies faint
in the streets of the city.
12 They cry to their mothers,
“Where is bread and wine?”
as 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, to what compare you,
O daughter of Jerusalem?
What can I fliken to you, that I may comfort you,
O gvirgin daughter of Zion?
For your ruin is vast as the sea;
hwho can heal you?
14 Your prophets have seen for you
ifalse and deceptive visions;
they have not jexposed your iniquity
to restore your fortunes,
but have seen for you oracles
that are false and misleading.
15 All who pass along the way
clap their hands at you;
they hiss and kwag their heads
at the daughter of Jerusalem:
“Is this the city that was called
the lperfection of beauty,
mthe joy of all the earth?”
16 All your enemies
rail against you;
they hiss, they gnash their teeth,
they cry: “We have swallowed her!
Ah, this is the day we longed for;
now we have it; we see it!”
17 nThe Lord has done what he purposed;
he has carried out his word,
which he commanded long ago;
he has thrown down without pity;
he has made the enemy orejoice over you
and exalted the might of your foes.
18 Their heart cried to the Lord.
O wall of the daughter of Zion,
let tears stream down like a torrent
day and night!
Give yourself no rest,
your eyes no respite!
19 “Arise, cry out in the night,
at the beginning of the night watches!
pPour out your heart like water
before the presence of the Lord!
Lift your hands to him
for the lives of your children,
who faint for hunger
qat the head of every street.”
20 Look, O Lord, and see!
With whom have you dealt thus?
Should women reat the fruit of their womb,
the children of their tender care?
Should priest and prophet be killed
in the sanctuary of the Lord?
21 In the dust of the streets
lie the syoung and the old;
my young women and my young men
have fallen by the sword;
you have killed them in the day of your anger,
slaughtering without pity.
22 You summoned as if to a festival day
my tterrors on every side,
and on the day of the anger of the Lord
no one escaped or survived;
those whom I held and raised
my enemy destroyed.
Great Is Your Faithfulness
3 I am the man who has seen affliction
under the rod of his wrath;
2 he has driven and brought me
into udarkness without any light;
3 surely against me he turns his hand
again and again the whole day long.
4 He has made my flesh and my vskin waste away;
he has wbroken my bones;
5 he has besieged and enveloped me
with bitterness and tribulation;
6 xhe has made me dwell in darkness
like the dead of long ago.
7 He has walled me about so that I cannot escape;
he has made my chains heavy;
8 though I call and ycry for help,
he shuts out my prayer;
9 he has blocked my ways with blocks of stones;
he has made my paths crooked.
10 He is a zbear lying in wait for me,
a lion in hiding;
11 he turned aside my steps and tore me to pieces;
he has made me desolate;
12 he abent his bow and set me
as a target for his arrow.
13 He drove into my kidneys
the barrows of his quiver;
14 I have become the claughingstock of all my people,1
the object of their taunts all day long.
15 He has filled me with bitterness;
he has sated me with dwormwood.
16 He has made my teeth grind on gravel,
and made me cower in ashes;
17 my soul is bereft of peace;
I have forgotten what happiness2 is;
18 so I say, “My endurance has perished;
so has my hope from the Lord.”
19 Remember my affliction and my wanderings,
the wormwood and the gall!
20 My soul continually remembers it
and is ebowed down within me.
21 But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
22 The fsteadfast love of the Lord never ceases;3
his gmercies never come to an end;
23 they are new hevery morning;
great is your ifaithfulness.
24 “The Lord is jmy portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will khope in him.”
25 The Lord is good to those who lwait for him,
to the soul who mseeks him.
26 It is good that one should wait nquietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
27 It is good for a man that he bear
the yoke in his youth.
28 Let him sit alone in silence
when it is laid on him;
29 let him put his mouth in the dust—
there may yet be hope;
30 let him give his ocheek to the one who strikes,
and let him be filled with insults.
31 For the Lord will not
cast off forever,
32 for, though he cause grief, he will have compassion
according to the pabundance of his steadfast love;
33 for qhe does not afflict from his heart
or grieve the children of men.
34 To crush underfoot
all the prisoners of the earth,
35 to rdeny a man justice
in the presence of the Most High,
36 to subvert a man in his lawsuit,
the Lord does not approve.
37 Who has spoken and it came to pass,
unless the Lord has commanded it?
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
that good sand bad come?
39 tWhy should a living man complain,
a man, about the punishment of his sins?
40 Let us test and examine our ways,
and ureturn to the Lord!
41 Let us lift up our vhearts and whands
to God in heaven:
42 “We have transgressed and rebelled,
and you have not forgiven.
43 “You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us,
killing without pity;
44 you have wrapped yourself with a xcloud
so that no prayer can pass through.
45 You have made us yscum and garbage
among the peoples.
46 z“All our enemies
open their mouths against us;
47 apanic and pitfall have come upon us,
bdevastation and destruction;
48 my eyes flow with rivers of tears
cbecause of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 “My eyes will flow without ceasing,
without respite,
50 until the Lord from heaven
dlooks down and sees;
51 my eyes cause me grief
at the fate of all the daughters of my city.
52 “I have been hunted like a bird
by those who were my enemies ewithout cause;
53 they flung me alive finto the pit4
and cast stones on me;
54 gwater closed over my head;
I said, ‘I am lost.’
55 “I called on your name, O Lord,
hfrom the depths of the pit;
56 you heard my plea, ‘Do not close
your ear to my cry for help!’
57 You icame near when I called on you;
you said, ‘Do not fear!’
58 “You have jtaken up my cause, O Lord;
you have redeemed my life.
59 You have seen the wrong done to me, O Lord;
judge my cause.
60 You have seen all their vengeance,
all their kplots against me.
61 “You have heard their taunts, O Lord,
all their plots against me.
62 The lips and thoughts of my assailants
are against me all the day long.
63 Behold their sitting and their rising;
I am the object of their ltaunts.
64 “You will repay them,5 O Lord,
according to the work of their hands.
65 You will give them6 dullness of heart;
your curse will be7 on them.
66 You will pursue them8 in anger and destroy them
from under your heavens, O Lord.”9
The Holy Stones Lie Scattered
4 How the gold has grown dim,
how the pure gold is changed!
The holy stones lie scattered
mat the head of every street.
2 The precious sons of Zion,
worth their weight in fine gold,
how they are regarded as nearthen 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,
olike the ostriches in the wilderness.
4 pThe tongue of the nursing infant sticks
to the roof of its mouth for thirst;
the children beg for food,
but no one gives to them.
5 Those who once feasted on delicacies
perish in the streets;
those who were brought up in purple
embrace ash heaps.
6 For the chastisement1 of the daughter of my people has been greater
than the punishment2 of qSodom,
which was roverthrown in a moment,
and no hands were wrung for her.3
7 Her princes were purer than snow,
swhiter than milk;
their bodies were more ruddy than coral,
8 tNow their face is blacker than soot;
they are not recognized in the streets;
their uskin 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 The hands of compassionate women
have boiled their own children;
they became their food
during the destruction of the daughter of my people.
11 The Lord vgave full vent to his wrath;
he poured out his hot anger,
and he wkindled a fire in Zion
that consumed its foundations.
12 The 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 the sins of her prophets
and the iniquities of her priests,
who shed in the midst of her
the blood of the righteous.
14 They wandered, xblind, through the streets;
they were so defiled with blood
that no one was able to touch
their garments.
15 “Away! yUnclean!” 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 The Lord himself6 has zscattered them;
he will regard them no more;
no honor was shown to the priests,
ano favor to the elders.
17 bOur eyes failed, ever watching
vainly for help;
in our watching we watched
for a nation which could not save.
18 They dogged our steps
so that we could not walk in our streets;
our cend drew near; our days were numbered,
for our end had come.
19 Our pursuers were dswifter
than the eagles in the heavens;
they chased us on the mountains;
they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.
20 The breath of our nostrils, the Lord’s anointed,
was captured in their pits,
of whom we said, “Under his shadow
we shall live among the nations.”
21 Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom,
you who dwell in the land of eUz;
but fto you also the cup shall pass;
you shall become gdrunk and strip yourself bare.
22 The punishment of your iniquity, O daughter of Zion, is accomplished;
he will keep you in exile no longer;7
but hyour iniquity, O daughter of Edom, he will punish;
he will uncover your sins.
