Chronological Plan

³⁷Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass, Unless the Lord has commanded it?

³⁸Is it not from the mouth of the Most High That both adversity and good proceed?

³⁹Of what can any living mortal, or any man, Complain in view of his sins?

⁴⁰Let’s examine and search out our ways, And let’s return to the LORD.

⁴¹We raise our heart and hands Toward God in heaven;

⁴²We have done wrong and rebelled; You have not pardoned.

⁴³You have covered Yourself with anger And pursued us; You have slain and have not spared.

⁴⁴You have veiled Yourself with a cloud So that no prayer can pass through.

⁴⁵You have made us mere refuse and rubbish In the midst of the peoples.

⁴⁶All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.

⁴⁷Panic and pitfall have come upon us, Devastation and destruction;

⁴⁸My eyes run down with streams of water Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.

⁴⁹My eyes flow unceasingly, Without stopping,

⁵⁰Until the LORD looks down And sees from heaven.

⁵¹My eyes bring pain to my soul Because of all the daughters of my city.

⁵²My enemies without reason Hunted me down like a bird;

⁵³They have silenced me in the pit And have thrown stones on me.

⁵⁴Waters flowed over my head; I said, “I am cut off!”

⁵⁵I called on Your name, LORD, Out of the lowest pit.

⁵⁶You have heard my voice, “Do not cover Your ear from my plea for relief, From my cry for help.”

⁵⁷You came near on the day I called to You; You said, “Do not fear!”

⁵⁸Lord, You have pleaded my soul’s cause; You have redeemed my life.

⁵⁹LORD, You have seen my oppression; Judge my case.

⁶⁰You have seen all their vengeance, All their schemes against me.

⁶¹You have heard their reproach, LORD, All their schemes against me.

⁶²The lips of my assailants and their talk Are against me all day long.

⁶³Look at their sitting and their rising; I am their mocking song.

⁶⁴You will repay them, LORD, In accordance with the work of their hands.

⁶⁵You will give them shamelessness of heart, Your curse will be on them.

⁶⁶You will pursue them in anger and eliminate them From under the heavens of the LORD!

¹How dark the gold has become, How the pure gold has changed! The sacred stones are spilled out At the corner of every street.

²The precious sons of Zion, Weighed against pure gold, How they are regarded as earthenware jars, The work of a potter’s hands!

³Even jackals offer the breast, They nurse their young; But the daughter of my people has proved herself cruel, Like ostriches in the wilderness.

⁴The tongue of the infant clings To the roof of its mouth because of thirst; The children ask for bread, But no one breaks it for them.

⁵Those who used to eat delicacies Are made to tremble in the streets; Those who were raised in crimson clothing Embrace garbage heaps.

⁶For the wrongdoing of the daughter of my people Is greater than the sin of Sodom, Which was overthrown as in a moment, And no hands were turned toward her.

⁷Her consecrated ones were purer than snow, They shined more than milk; They were more ruddy in body than pearls of coral, Their form was like lapis lazuli.

⁸Their appearance is darker than soot, They are not recognized in the streets; Their skin is shriveled on their bones, It is dry, it has become like wood.

⁹Better off are those killed by the sword Than those killed by hunger; For they waste away, stricken By the lack of the produce of the field.

¹⁰The hands of compassionate women Boiled their own children; They became food for them Due to the destruction of the daughter of my people.

¹¹The LORD has expended His wrath, He has poured out His fierce anger; And He has kindled a fire in Zion, And it has consumed its foundations.

¹²The kings of the earth did not believe, Nor did any of the inhabitants of the world, That the adversary and the enemy Would enter the gates of Jerusalem.

¹³Because of the sins of her prophets And the wrongdoings of her priests, Who have shed in her midst The blood of the righteous,

¹⁴They wandered, blind, in the streets; They were defiled with blood, Such that no one could touch their garments.

¹⁵“Keep away! Unclean!” they cried out of themselves. “Keep away, keep away, do not touch!” For they distanced themselves as well as wandered; People among the nations said, “They shall not continue to reside with us.”

¹⁶The presence of the LORD has scattered them, He will not continue to look at them; They did not honor the priests, They did not favor the elders.

¹⁷Yet our eyes failed, Looking for help was useless; At our observation point we have watched For a nation that could not save.

¹⁸They hunted our steps So that we could not walk in our streets; Our end drew near, Our days were finished For our end had come.

¹⁹Our pursuers were swifter Than the eagles of the sky; They chased us on the mountains, They waited in ambush for us in the wilderness.

²⁰The breath of our nostrils, the LORD’S anointed, Was captured in their pits, Of whom we had said, “In his shadow We shall live among the nations.”

²¹Rejoice and be joyful, daughter of Edom, Who lives in the land of Uz; But the cup will pass to you as well, You will become drunk and expose yourself.

²²The punishment of your wrongdoing has been completed, daughter of Zion; He will no longer exile you. But He will punish your wrongdoing, daughter of Edom; He will expose your sins!

¹Remember, LORD, what has come upon us; Look, and see our disgrace!

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

³We have become orphans, without a father; Our mothers are like widows.

⁴We have to pay for our drinking water, Our wood comes to us at a price.

⁵Our pursuers are at our necks; We are worn out, we are given no rest.

⁶We have submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough bread.

⁷Our fathers sinned, and are gone; It is we who have been burdened with the punishment for their wrongdoings.

⁸Slaves rule over us; There is no one to rescue us from their hand.

⁹We get our bread at the risk of our lives Because of the sword in the wilderness.

¹⁰Our skin has become as hot as an oven, Because of the ravages of hunger.

¹¹They violated the women in Zion, The virgins in the cities of Judah.

¹²Leaders were hung by their hands; Elders were not respected.

¹³Young men worked at the grinding mill, And youths staggered under loads of wood.

¹⁴Elders are absent from the gate, Young men from their music.

¹⁵The joy of our hearts has ended; Our dancing has been turned into mourning.

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

¹⁷Because of this our heart is faint, Because of these things our eyes are dim;

¹⁸Because of Mount Zion which lies desolate, Jackals prowl in it.

¹⁹You, LORD, rule forever; Your throne is from generation to generation.

²⁰Why will You forget us forever? Why do You abandon us for so long?

²¹Restore us to You, LORD, so that we may be restored; Renew our days as of old,

²²Unless You have utterly rejected us And are exceedingly angry with us.