The Holy Stones Lie Scattered
aHow the gold has grown dim,
how the pure gold is changed!
The holy stones lie scattered
bat the head of every street.
2 The precious sons of Zion,
worth their weight in afine gold,
how they are regarded as bearthen pots,
the work of a potter’s hands!
3 Even jackals offer the breast;
they nurse their young;
but the daughter of my people has become cruel,
like the ostriches in the wilderness.
4 The tongue of the nursing infant asticks
to the roof of its mouth for thirst;
bthe children beg for food,
but no one gives to them.
5 Those who once feasted on delicacies
perish in the streets;
athose who were brought up in purple
embrace ash heaps.
6 aFor the chastisement of the daughter of my people has been greater
than the punishment of Sodom,
bwhich was overthrown in a moment,
and no hands were wrung for her.
7 Her princes were purer than snow,
whiter than milk;
their bodies were more ruddy than coral,
the beauty of their form was like sapphire.
8 aNow their face is blacker than soot;
they are not recognized in the streets;
their skin has shriveled on their bones;
it has become as dry as wood.
9 Happier were the victims of the sword
than the victims of hunger,
who wasted away, pierced
by lack of the fruits of the field.
10 aThe hands of bcompassionate women
chave boiled their own children;
dthey became their food
during the destruction of the daughter of my people.
11 aThe Lord gave full vent to his wrath;
he poured out his hot anger,
and bhe kindled a fire in Zion
that consumed its foundations.
12 aThe kings of the earth did not believe,
nor any of the inhabitants of the world,
that foe or enemy could enter
the gates of Jerusalem.
13 This was for athe sins of her prophets
and athe iniquities of her priests,
who shed in the midst of her
the blood of the righteous.
14 aThey wandered, blind, through the streets;
they were so defiled with blood
bthat no one was able to touch
their garments.
15 “Away! aUnclean!” people cried at them.
“Away! Away! Do not touch!”
So they became fugitives and wanderers;
people said among the nations,
“They shall stay with us no longer.”
16 aThe Lord himself has scattered them;
he will regard them no more;
bno honor was shown to the priests,
cno favor to the elders.
17 aOur eyes failed, ever watching
avainly for help;
in our watching we watched
for ba nation which could not save.
18 aThey dogged our steps
so that we could not walk in our streets;
bour end drew near; our days were numbered,
for our end had come.
19 Our pursuers were aswifter
than the eagles in the heavens;
they chased us on the mountains;
they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.
20 aThe breath of our nostrils, bthe Lord’s anointed,
was captured cin their pits,
of whom we said, d“Under his shadow
we shall live among the nations.”
21 aRejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom,
you who dwell in bthe land of Uz;
but to you also cthe cup shall pass;
you shall become drunk and strip yourself bare.
22 aThe punishment of your iniquity, O daughter of Zion, is accomplished;
he will keep you in exile no longer;
but byour iniquity, O daughter of Edom, he will punish;
he will uncover your sins.