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.