LEB LAM book

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The Desolate City

1 How desolate the city sits
- that was full of people!
She has become like a widow,
- once great among the nations!
Like a woman of nobility in the provinces,
- she has become a forced laborer.
2 She weeps bitterly in the night,
- her tears are on her cheeks;
she has no comforter
- among all her lovers.
All her friends have been unfaithful to her;
- they have become her enemies.
3 Judah has gone into exile with misery
- and under hard servitude;
she lives among the nations,
- she has not found a resting place;
all her pursuers have overtaken her
- amidst her distress.
4 The roads of Zion are mourning
- because no one comes to the festival.
All her gates are desolate,
- her priests groan;
her young women are worried,
- and she herself suffers bitterly.
5 Her foes have become her master ,[fn]
- her enemies are at ease;
Yahweh has made her suffer
- because of the greatness of her transgressions.
Her children have gone away,
- captive before the foe.
6 All her majesty has gone away
- from the daughter of Zion;
her princes have become like young stags
- that have not found pasture;
they have gone away without strength,
- before the pursuer.
7 Jerusalem remembers
- the days of her misery and wanderings,
all her treasures
- that were from the days of long ago.
When her people fell into the hand of the enemy,
- there was no one helping her;
the enemies saw her, they mocked
- at her destruction.
8 Jerusalem sinned grievously,
- thus she became an objection of derision;
all those who honored her despise her
- because they have seen her nakedness.
She herself groans
- and turns away.
9 Her uncleanness was in her skirts;
- she did not remember her future,
she has descended beyond understanding,
- there is no comforter for her.
See, O Yahweh, my persecution!
- My enemy has been made great!
10 The enemy has stretched out his hand
- over all her treasures;
for she has seen the nations,
- they entered her sanctuary,
those whom you commanded not to enter
- in your assembly.
11 All her people groan,
- they are searching for bread.
They give their treasures for food,
- to bring back life.
See, O Yahweh, and look,
- how I am despised.
12 Is it nothing to you, all who pass by ?[fn]
- Look and see
if there is sorrow like my sorrow,[fn]
- which was dealt to me,
which Yahweh inflicted
- on the day of his wrath .[fn]
13 From heaven he sent fire,
- into my bones he let it descend.
He spread out a net for my feet;
- he turned me back,
he gave me devastation,
- fainting all day.
14 My rebellion was bound as a yoke,
- with his hand it was fastened together;
it was put on my neck
- and caused my strength to fail.
The Lord gave me into the hands
- of those whom I cannot withstand.
15 The Lord has rejected
- all my mighty ones in my midst.
He called an assembly against me,
- to crush my young men;
like in a wine press,
- the Lord has trodden on
the virgin daughter of Judah.
16 For these things, I am weeping,
- my eyes flow with tears ;[fn]
because a comforter is far from me,
- one to restore my life.
My sons are desolate
- because the enemy has prevailed.
17 Zion stretches out her hands;
- there is no one to comfort her.
Yahweh has commanded against Jacob,
- that those surrounding him[fn] should be his enemies;
Jerusalem has become
- a defilement among them.
18 Yahweh is righteous;
- I have rebelled against his word .[fn]
Please hear, all the nations,
- And see my pain;
My young women[fn] and young men
- went into captivity.
19 I have called to my lovers,
- they themselves deceived me;
my priests and elders perished in the city
- when they sought food for themselves
  - to revive their life.[fn]
20 See, O Yahweh, that I am in distress ;[fn]
- my stomach[fn] is in torment,
my heart has turned inside me
- because I have certainly rebelled.
From outside a sword brings bereavement,
- inside the house it is like death.
21 They hear that I was groaning;
- there is no comforter for me.
All my enemies have heard my misery,
- they are pleased that you have done it.
Bring that day that you have proclaimed,[fn]
- And let them be like me.
22 Let all their evil come before you;
- and deal with them
just as you have dealt with me
- because of all my crimes;
for my groaning is much and my heart is faint.

The Lord is Angry

2 How, in his anger ,[fn]
the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion in a cloud!
He has thrown down from heavens to earth
- the splendor of Israel,
and he has not remembered his footstool
- in the day of his anger .[fn]
2 The Lord has devoured; he has not shown mercy
- to all the dwellings of Jacob;
he has broken down in his wrath
- the fortifications of the daughter of Judah;
he has leveled to the ground, he has dishonored
- the kingdom and its commanders.[fn]
3 He has cut down in fierce anger[fn]
- all the might of Israel;
he has withdrawn his right hand
- from the faces of the enemy,
and he has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire,
- it has consumed all around.
4 He has bent his bow like an enemy;
- he has set his right hand
like a foe, and he has slain
- all the treasures of the eye;[fn]
in the tent of the daughter of Zion,
- he has poured out his anger like fire.
5 The Lord has become like an enemy;
- he has destroyed Israel;
he has destroyed all its citadel fortresses;[fn]
- he has ruined all its fortifications
and multiplied lamentation and mourning
- in the daughter of Judah.
6 He has broken down his dwelling[fn] place like the garden;
- he has ruined his appointed feasts;
Yahweh has made them forget in Zion
- festival[fn] and Sabbath,
and he has despised in his anger
- king and priest.
7 The Lord has rejected his altar;
- he has rejected his sanctuary;
he has delivered into the hands of the enemy
- the walls of its citadel fortresses.[fn]
They have cried out in the house of Yahweh
- like a day of an appointed feast.
8 Yahweh has planned to destroy
- the wall of the daughter of Zion.
He measured with a line; he has not restrained
- his hand from destroying;
he caused rampart and wall to mourn;
- together they have languished away.
9 Her gates have sunk into the earth;
- he has ruined and broken her bars,
her kings and its princes are among the nations;
- there is no more law.[fn]
Also, her prophets have not found
- a revelation from Yahweh.
10 They sit on the ground,
- the elders of the daughter of Zion are silent.
They cast dust on their head,
- they have put on sackcloth;
the young women of Jerusalem
- have bowed their head down to the ground.
11 My eyes have spent all their tears ;[fn]
- my stomach[fn] is in torment,
my heart[fn] is poured out on the earth
- because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
because child and babe faint
- in the public squares of a city.
12 To their mothers they say,
- “Where is the bread and wine?”
as they faint like the wounded
- in the public squares of a city,
as their life is being poured out
- onto the bosom of their mothers.
13 What can I say for you? What can I compare to you,
- O daughter of Jerusalem?
To what can I liken you so that I can comfort you,
- O virgin daughter of Zion?
For your destruction is as vast as the sea;
- who can heal you?
14 Your prophets had a vision for you,
- false and worthless;
they have not exposed your sin,
- to restore your fortune;
they have seen oracles for you,
- false and misleading.
15 They clap hands over you,
- all who pass along the way;
they hiss and they shake their head,
- at the daughter of Jerusalem.
Is this the city of which it is said,
- “A perfection of beauty, a joy for all the earth?”
16 They have opened their mouths against you,
- all your enemies.
They hiss and gnash a tooth,
- and they say, “We have destroyed her!
Surely this is the day we have hoped for;
- we have found it, we have seen it!”
17 Yahweh has done what he has planned;
- he has fulfilled his promise
that he ordained from the days of old;
- he has demolished and not shown mercy;
he has made an enemy rejoice over you,
- he has exalted the might[fn] of your foes.
18 Their heart cried to the Lord,
- “O wall of the daughter of Zion,
let tears stream down like a river;
- day and night,
do not give yourself relief,
- do not give your eyes rest.
19 “Arise, cry out in the night,
- at the beginning of the night watches;
pour out your heart like water,
- before the face of the Lord.
Lift to him your hands,
- for the life of your children,
who faint in starvation,
- at the head of all streets.”
20 See, Yahweh, and take note!
- With whom have you dealt thus?
Should women eat their young
- children of tender care?
Should priest and prophet be slain
- in the sanctuary of the Lord?
21 They lie in the soil of the streets,
- young and old;
my young women[fn] and young men,
- they have fallen by the sword;
you have slain on the day of your anger ,[fn]
- you have slaughtered and not shown mercy.
22 You have summoned my horror from all around,
- as if for a feast day;
no one on the day of Yahweh’s anger
- is a fugitive and a survivor;
whoever I have cared for and reared,
- my enemy has destroyed.

Israel’s Affliction

3 I am a man who has seen misery,
under the rod of his wrath.
2 He has driven me along, he brought
- darkness and not light.
3 Surely he has turned his hand against me,
- all day long.
4 He has worn out my flesh and skin,
- he has broken my bones.
5 He has besieged[fn] and engulfed me
- with bitterness and hardship.
6 In darkness he has let me dwell
- like the dead of long ago.
7 He has built a wall around me, I cannot go out;
- he has made my bronze fetters heavy.
8 Though I cry out for help,
- he shuts out my prayers.
9 He has blocked my ways with dressed stones;
- he has made my paths crooked.
10 To me he is like a bear lying in wait,
- a lion in hiding.
11 He has forsaken my way and torn me to pieces;
- he has caused me desolation.
12 He has bent his bow and set me
- as the target for the arrow.
13 He shot the arrows of his quiver[fn]
- into my kidneys.
14 I have become a laughingstock for all the people,
- their mocking song all day long.
15 He has filled me with bitterness,
- he has drenched me with wormwood.
16 He has broken my teeth on grit,
- he has trampled me down in ash.
17 My life has been removed from peace,
- I have forgotten goodness.
18 And I have said, “My glory is ruined,
- my expectation from Yahweh.”
19 Remember my misery and bitterness,
- the wormwood[fn] and venom!
20 Surely my soul remembers
- and bows down within me.
21 This I have reminded myself ,[fn]
- therefore I will hope.
22 The loyal love of Yahweh does not cease;
- his compassions do not come to an end.
23 They are new in the morning,
- great is your faithfulness.
24 “Yahweh is my portion,”
- says my soul,
  - “Thus I will hope on him.”
25 Yahweh is good to those who wait on him,
- to the person that seeks him.
26 It is good to wait in silence
- for the salvation of Yahweh.
27 It is good for a man who carries
- the yoke of his childhood.
28 Let him sit alone and be silent
- when he[fn] has laid it on him.
29 Let him put[fn] his mouth in the dust;
- perhaps there is hope.
30 Let him give a cheek to his smiter,
- let him be filled with disgrace.
31 For the Lord will not reject
- forever.
32 For even though he causes grief he has compassion
- according to the greatness of his royal love.
33 He does not afflict willingly ,[fn]
- or grieve anyone .[fn]
34 To crush under his feet
- all the prisoners of the earth;
35 to deprive one of justice[fn]
- before the face of the Most High;
36 to subvert a person in a legal dispute
- —the Lord has not found delight in these things.
37 Who can speak[fn] and it will happen
- if the Lord has not commanded it?
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
- that disaster and good will come?
39 Why should any living person complain
- about his sin?
40 Let us test and examine our ways;
- let us return to Yahweh.
41 Let us lift up our hearts with our hands
- to God in the heavens.
42 We ourselves have transgressed and rebelled,
- you have not forgiven.
43 You have covered yourself in anger[fn] and pursued us,
- you have slain and not shown mercy.
44 You have covered yourself in a cloud
- so that prayer cannot pass through .[fn]
45 You have made us scum and refuse
- in the midst of the nations.
46 All our enemies
- have opened their mouth against us.
47 Fear and a pit have come upon us,
- desolation and destruction.
48 Channels of water run down my eyes
- because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 My eyes have poured down unceasingly
- without respite,
50 until Yahweh looks down
- and sees from heaven.
51 My eyes inflict my soul
- because of all the daughters of my city.
52 My enemies hunt me without cause,
- like a bird.
53 They have silenced me in a pit ,[fn]
- they have thrown a stone at me.
54 Water has flown over my head,
- I said, “I am cut off.”
55 I have called your name, O Yahweh,
- from the depths of the pit.
56 You have heard my cry, “Do not shut your ear
- to my cry for help, for my relief!”
57 You came near on a day when I called you,
- you said, “Do not fear!”
58 O Lord, you have pleaded for my cause ,[fn]
- you have redeemed my life.
59 You have seen my injustice, O Yahweh;
- judge my case.
60 You have seen all their vengeance,
- all there plans against me.
61 You have heard their disgrace, O Yahweh,
- all their plans against me.
62 The lips and meditation of my assailants
- are against me all day long.
63 Look at their sitting and their standing,
- I am their mocking song.
64 Return to them what is deserved, O Yahweh,
- according to the work of their hands.
65 Give them a stubborn heart;
- curse them!
66 Pursue them in anger[fn] and destroy them
- from under the heavens of Yahweh.

Zion Is Punished

4 How the gold has grown dim,
the pure gold has changed.
The stones of holiness are scattered
- at the head of every street.
2 The 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.
3 Even the jackal bears the beast
- and nurses their cubs;
but the daughter of my people has become ruthless,
- like ostriches in the wilderness.
4 The tongue of the nursling cleaves
- to its palate in thirst.
Children beg for food,
- no one lays it out before them .[fn]
5 The ones who eat delicacies,
- they are ruined in the streets;
the ones nurtured in purple
- lie on piles of trash.
6 The 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.
7 Her princes were purer than snow,
- they were whiter than milk;
their bodies were more ruddy than rubies,
- sapphire their appearance.
8 Now 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.
9 Happier were the victims of the sword
- than the victims of famine;
they have pined away, very hungry
- for the crops of my field.
10 The hands of compassionate women,
- have cooked their children;
they became as something to eat
- in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
11 Yahweh has completed his anger,
- he has poured out his fierce anger ;[fn]
he has kindled a fire in Zion,
- it consumed her[fn] foundations.
12 The 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.
13 Because of the sins of her prophets,
- the guilt of her priests,
who shed blood in her midst,
- of righteous people.
14 They 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 .”[fn]
16 The presence of Yahweh has scattered them,
- he will no longer watch over them;
they did not honor the priests ,[fn]
- they did not show mercy to elders.
17 Still our eyes failed,
- looking for our help in vain;
in our watchtower, we kept watch
- for a nation that could not save.
18 They hunted our steps,
- from walking in our streets;
our end has come near, our days are finished ,[fn]
- our end has come.
19 Our 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.
20 The 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.”
21 Rejoice 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.
22 The 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.

A Request for Mercy

5 Remember, O Yahweh, what has become of us;
take note, and see our disgrace!
2 Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,
- our houses, to foreigners.
3 We have become orphans, fatherless,
- our mothers are like widows.
4 We pay for water with money ,[fn]
- our wood comes to us at a price.
5 We are driven on our necks;
- we are weary, there is no rest for us.
6 We have made a deal with Egypt and Assyria
- to be satisfied with food.
7 Our fathers have sinned, they are no more;
- we bear their iniquity.
8 Slaves rule over us;
- there is no one to deliver us from their hand.
9 We risk our life for food[fn]
- because of the sword of the desert.
10 Our skin is hot like an oven
- because of the scorching famine.
11 They raped women in Zion,
- young women[fn] in the cities of Judah.
12 They hang princes by their hand;
- they do not show respect before elders.
13 Young men must carry a hand-mill
- and boys stumble under the wood.
14 Elders are no longer at the gate,
- young men no longer play stringed instruments.
15 The joy of our hearts has stopped;
- our circle-dancing has changed to a mourning ceremony.
16 The crown has fallen from our head;
- woe to us, for we have sinned!
17 Because of this, our heart has become faint,
- because of these, our eyes have become dim.
18 Because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate,
- foxes tread on it .[fn]
19 You, O Yahweh, will sit forever
- on your throne for generation to generation.
20 Why have you forgotten us forever?
- Why have you forsaken us for so long ?[fn]
21 Restore us to you, O Yahweh, that we will be restored;
- renew our days as of old.
22 Unless you have utterly rejected us,
- unless you are angry with us beyond measure.

1:? Literally “head”

1:? Literally “all who cross a road”

1:? Or “pain like my pain”

1:? Literally “on the day of the blaze of his nose”

1:? Literally “my eye my eye is going down with water”

1:? NRSV translates “his neighbors”

1:? Literally “his mouth”

1:? Or “virgins”

1:? Or “their soul”

1:? Literally “there is distress for me”

1:? Literally “inner parts”

1:? Or “you have called”

2:? Literally “in his nose”

2:? Literally “his nose”

2:? Or “her commanders”

2:? Literally “in a fierce nose”

2:? NRSV translates “all in whom we took pride”

2:? Or “her citadel fortresses”

2:? Literally “his booth”; or “his tabernacle”

2:? Literally “appointed time”

2:? Or “her citadel fortress”

2:? Hebrew torah

2:? Literally “finished with the weeping”

2:? Literally “my inward parts”

2:? Literally “my liver”

2:? Literally “horn”

2:? Or “my virgins”

2:? Literally “your nose”

3:? Literally “he has built against”

3:? Literally “the offspring of his arrow quiver”

3:? Or “the bitter substance”

3:? Literally “I have brought back to my heart”

3:? Yahweh

3:? Literally “him give”

3:? Literally “afflict from the heart”

3:? Literally “the sons of men”

3:? Literally “to turn aside the judgment of a man”

3:? Literally “Who is this that speaks”

3:? Literally “in the nose”

3:? Literally “from a passing prayer”

3:? Literally “they have put to silence my life in a pit”

3:? Literally “the legal disputes of my soul”

3:? Literally “in nose”

4:? Literally “nothing spreads to them”

4:? Literally “the fierce anger of his nose”

4:? Or “its”

4:? Literally “They will no longer be here as aliens”

4:? Literally “they did not lift up the faces of the priests”

4:? Literally “our days are filled”

5:? Literally “we drink our water by money”

5:? Literally “We take our food at our life”

5:? Or “virgins”

5:? Literally “foxes go on it”

5:? Literally “for long days”