Chronological Plan

³⁷Who is there who speaks and it happens, unless the Lord has ordained it?

³⁸Do not both adversity and good come from the mouth of the Most High?

³⁹Why should any living person complain, any man, because of the punishment for his sins?

⁴⁰Let us examine and probe our ways, and turn back to the LORD.

⁴¹Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven:

⁴²“We have sinned and rebelled; you have not forgiven.

⁴³“You have covered yourself in anger and pursued us; you have killed without compassion.

⁴⁴You have covered yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can get through.

⁴⁵You have made us disgusting filth among the peoples.

⁴⁶“All our enemies open their mouths against us.

⁴⁷We have experienced panic and pitfall, devastation and destruction.”

⁴⁸My eyes flow with streams of tears because of the destruction of my dear people.

⁴⁹My eyes overflow unceasingly, without end,

⁵⁰until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees.

⁵¹My eyes bring me grief because of the fate of all the women in my city.

⁵²For no reason, my enemies hunted me like a bird.

⁵³They smothered my life in a pit and threw stones on me.

⁵⁴Water flooded over my head, and I thought, “I’m going to die!”

⁵⁵I called on your name, LORD, from the depths of the pit.

⁵⁶You heard my plea: Do not ignore my cry for relief.

⁵⁷You came near whenever I called you; you said, “Do not be afraid.”

⁵⁸You championed my cause, Lord; you redeemed my life.

⁵⁹LORD, you saw the wrong done to me; judge my case.

⁶⁰You saw all their vengefulness, all their plots against me.

⁶¹LORD, you heard their insults, all their plots against me.

⁶²The slander and murmuring of my opponents attack me all day long.

⁶³When they sit and when they rise, look, I am mocked by their songs.

⁶⁴You will pay them back what they deserve, LORD, according to the work of their hands.

⁶⁵You will give them a heart filled with anguish. May your curse be on them!

⁶⁶You will pursue them in anger and destroy them under your heavens.

¹How the gold has become tarnished, the fine gold become dull! The stones of the temple lie scattered at the head of every street.

²Zion’s precious children — once worth their weight in pure gold  — how they are regarded as clay jars, the work of a potter’s hands!

³Even jackals offer their breasts to nurse their young, but my dear people have become cruel like ostriches in the wilderness.

⁴The nursing baby’s tongue clings to the roof of his mouth from thirst. Infants beg for food, but no one gives them any.

⁵Those who used to eat delicacies are destitute in the streets; those who were reared in purple garments huddle in trash heaps.

⁶The punishment of my dear people is greater than that of Sodom, which was overthrown in an instant without a hand laid on it.

⁷Her dignitaries were brighter than snow, whiter than milk; their bodies were more ruddy than coral, their appearance like lapis lazuli.

⁸Now they appear darker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones; it has become dry like wood.

⁹Those slain by the sword are better off than those slain by hunger, who waste away, pierced with pain because the fields lack produce.

¹⁰The hands of compassionate women have cooked their own children; they became their food during the destruction of my dear people.

¹¹The LORD has exhausted his wrath, poured out his burning anger; he has ignited a fire in Zion, and it has consumed her foundations.

¹²The kings of the earth and all the world’s inhabitants did not believe that an enemy or adversary could enter Jerusalem’s gates.

¹³Yet it happened because of the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, who shed the blood of the righteous within her.

¹⁴Blind, they stumbled in the streets, defiled by this blood, so that no one dared to touch their garments.

¹⁵“Stay away! Unclean!” people shouted at them. “Away, away! Don’t touch us!” So they wandered aimlessly. It was said among the nations, “They can stay here no longer.”

¹⁶The LORD himself has scattered them; he no longer watches over them. The priests are not respected; the elders find no favor.

¹⁷All the while our eyes were failing as we looked in vain for help; we watched from our towers for a nation that would not save us.

¹⁸Our steps were closely followed so that we could not walk in our streets. Our end approached; our time ran out. Our end had come!

¹⁹Those who chased us were swifter than eagles in the sky; they relentlessly pursued us over the mountains and ambushed us in the wilderness.

²⁰The LORD’s anointed, the breath of our life, was captured in their traps. We had said about him, “We will live under his protection among the nations.”

²¹So rejoice and be glad, Daughter Edom, you resident of the land of Uz! Yet the cup will pass to you as well; you will get drunk and expose yourself.

²²Daughter Zion, your punishment is complete; he will not lengthen your exile. But he will punish your iniquity, Daughter Edom, and will expose your sins.

¹LORD, remember what has happened to us. Look, and see our disgrace!

²Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our houses to foreigners.

³We have become orphans, fatherless; our mothers are widows.

⁴We must pay for the water we drink; our wood comes at a price.

⁵We are closely pursued; we are tired, and no one offers us rest.

⁶We made a treaty with Egypt and with Assyria, to get enough food.

⁷Our fathers sinned; they no longer exist, but we bear their punishment.

⁸Slaves rule over us; no one rescues us from them.

⁹We secure our food at the risk of our lives because of the sword in the wilderness.

¹⁰Our skin is as hot as an oven from the ravages of hunger.

¹¹Women have been raped in Zion, virgins in the cities of Judah.

¹²Princes have been hung up by their hands; elders are shown no respect.

¹³Young men labor at millstones; boys stumble under loads of wood.

¹⁴The elders have left the city gate, the young men, their music.

¹⁵Joy has left our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning.

¹⁶The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned.

¹⁷Because of this, our heart is sick; because of these, our eyes grow dim:

¹⁸because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate and has jackals prowling in it.

¹⁹You, LORD, are enthroned forever; your throne endures from generation to generation.

²⁰Why do you continually forget us, abandon us for our entire lives?

²¹LORD, bring us back to yourself, so we may return; renew our days as in former times,

²²unless you have completely rejected us and are intensely angry with us.