The Distress of Zion

1How† the gold has grown dim,

the pure gold has changed!

The stones of holiness are poured forth

at the head of every street.

2The precious sons of Zion

were weighed with fine gold.

How they are esteemed as pots of clay,

the work of the hands of a potter!

3Even the jackals† draw out the breast

and suckle their young,

but the daughter of my people is cruel,

like ostriches in the wilderness.

4The tongue of the sucking babe clings

to the roof of its mouth in thirst;

the little children ask for bread—

there is no one dispersing it for them.

5Those once eating delicacies

are desolate in the streets;

those being set firmly in scarlet

embrace heaps of rubbish.

6And the punishment† of the daughter of my people is greater

than the sin of Sodom,

which was overthrown in a moment,

and no hands were wrung for her.

7Her princes were brighter than snow

and whiter than milk;

they were more ruddy in essence than rubies;

their polishing† was of sapphire.†

8Now their appearance is darker than soot;

they are not recognized in the streets;

their skin has shriveled on their bones,

it has grown dry and become like wood.

9Better are those slain by the sword

than those dying of hunger,

who waste away

from the piercing of produce the field.

10The hands of compassionate women

have boiled their own children;

they became food for them

in this destruction of the daughter of my people!

11YHWH has fulfilled His fury,

He has poured out the burning of His nose;

He has kindled a fire in Zion,

and it has devoured her foundations.

12The kings of the earth did not believe

and all those dwelling in the world,

that the adversary would come

and the enemy into the gates of Jerusalem,

13for the sins of her prophets,

the iniquities of her priests,

those pouring in her midst

the blood of the righteous,

14They wandered blind in the streets,

they have defiled themselves with the blood,

that none would be able

to touch their garments.

15“Turn away! Unclean!”

They called out to them.

“Turn away! Turn away, do not touch us!”

So they fled and wandered,

they said among the nations,

“They shall not continue to sojourn!”

16The face of YHWH has scattered them;

He shall not continue to look on them;

the faces of the priests they do not lift up,

and to the elders they do not show favor.

17Again our eyes came to an end,

for our helper in vain;

in our keeping watch we watched

for a nation that could not save us.

18They tracked our steps,

from walking in our own streets;

our end came near; our days were fulfilled,

for our end had come.

19Swifter were our pursuers

than the eagles of the heavens;

over the mountains they were hot after us,

and in the wilderness they set an ambush for us.

20The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of YHWH,

was caught in their pits,

of whom we said,

“Under his shadow we shall live among the nations.”

21Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom,

dwelling in the land of Uz!

Even to you shall pass over the cup,

and you shall become drunk and uncover yourselves!

22Your guilt is complete, O daughter of Zion;

He will not continue to leave you exiled.†

He will visit punishment on your iniquity, O daughter of Edom!

He will remove the cover over your sins.