The Punishment of Zion
how the pure gold is changed!
The holy stones lie scattered
at the head of every street.
worth their weight in fine gold,
how they are reckoned as earthen pots,
the work of a potter’s hands!
and suckle their young,
but the daughter of my people has become cruel,
like the ostriches in the wilderness.
to the roof of its mouth for thirst;
the children beg for food,
but no one gives to them.
perish in the streets;
those who were brought up in purple
lie on ash heaps.
than the punishment[b] of Sodom,
which was overthrown in a moment,
no hand being laid on it.[c]
whiter than milk;
their bodies were more ruddy than coral,
the beauty of their form[d] was like sapphire.[e]
they are not recognized in the streets;
their skin has shriveled upon their bones,
it has become as dry as wood.
than the victims of hunger,
who pined away, stricken
by want of the fruits of the field.
have boiled their own children;
they became their food
in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
he poured out his hot anger;
and he kindled a fire in Zion,
which consumed its foundations.
or any of the inhabitants of the world,
that foe or enemy could enter
the gates of Jerusalem.
and the iniquities of her priests,
who shed in the midst of her
the blood of the righteous.
so defiled with blood
that none could touch
their garments.
“Away! Away! Touch not!”
So they became fugitives and wanderers;
men said among the nations,
“They shall stay with us no longer.”
he will regard them no more;
no honor was shown to the priests,
no favor to the elders.
vainly for help;
in our watching[f] we watched
for a nation which could not save.
so that we could not walk in our streets;
our end drew near; our days were numbered;
for our end had come.
than the vultures in the heavens;
they chased us on the mountains,
they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.
was taken in their pits,
he of whom we said, “Under his shadow
we shall live among the nations.”
dweller in the land of Uz;
but to you also the cup shall pass;
you shall become drunk and strip yourself bare.
he will keep you in exile no longer;
but your iniquity, O daughter of Edom, he will punish,
he will uncover your sins.
Footnotes
- Lamentations 4:6 Or iniquity
- Lamentations 4:6 Or sin
- Lamentations 4:6 Heb uncertain
- Lamentations 4:7 Heb uncertain
- Lamentations 4:7 Heb lapis lazuli
- Lamentations 4:17 Heb uncertain