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The Distress of Zion

¹ How the gold has become tarnished, the pure gold has become dull! The gems of the temple lie scattered on every street corner.² How the precious sons of Zion, once worth their weight in pure gold, are now esteemed as clay jars, the work of a potter’s hands!³ Even jackals offer their breasts to nurse their young, but the daughter of my people has become cruel, like an ostrich in the wilderness.⁴ The nursing infant’s tongue clings in thirst to the roof of his mouth. Little children beg for bread, but no one gives them any.⁵ Those who once ate delicacies are destitute in the streets; those brought up in purple huddle in ash heaps.⁶ The punishment^(a) of the daughter of my people is greater than that of Sodom, which was overthrown in an instant without a hand turned toward her.⁷ Her dignitaries were brighter than snow, whiter than milk; their bodies were more ruddy than rubies, their appearance^(a) like sapphires^(a).⁸ But now their appearance is blacker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones; it has become as dry as a stick.⁹ Those slain by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger, who waste away, pierced with pain because the fields lack produce.¹⁰ The hands of compassionate women have cooked their own children, who became their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.¹¹ The LORD has exhausted His wrath; He has poured out His fierce anger; He has kindled a fire in Zion, and it has consumed her foundations.¹² The kings of the earth did not believe, nor any people of the world, that an enemy or a foe could enter the gates of Jerusalem.

¹³ But this was for the sins of her prophets and the guilt of her priests, who shed the blood of the righteous in her midst.¹⁴ They wandered blind in the streets, defiled by this blood, so that no one dared to touch their garments.¹⁵ “Go away! Unclean!” men shouted at them. “Away, away! Do not touch us!” So they fled and wandered. Among the nations it was said, “They can stay here no longer.”¹⁶ The LORD Himself has scattered them; He regards them no more. The priests are shown no honor, the elders find no favor.¹⁷ All the while our eyes were failing as we looked in vain for help. We watched from our towers for a nation that could not save us.¹⁸ They stalked our every step, so that we could not walk in our streets. Our end drew near, our time ran out, for our end had come!¹⁹ Those who chased us were swifter than the eagles in the sky; they pursued us over the mountains and ambushed us in the wilderness.²⁰ The LORD’s anointed, the breath of our life, was captured in their pits. We had said of him, “Under his shadow we will live among the nations.”

²¹ So rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, who dwells in the land of Uz. Yet the cup will pass to you as well; you will get drunk and expose yourself.²² O Daughter of Zion, your punishment is complete; He will not prolong your exile^(a). But He will punish your iniquity, O Daughter of Edom; He will expose your sins.