Zion Is Punished

• 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.