Zion's hope of relief after punishment
    once worth their weight in finest gold,
  now counted as pitchers of earthenware
    made by any potter's hand.
   3   Even whales ^note uncover the teat
    and suckle their young;
  but the daughters of my people are cruel
    as ostriches in the desert.
   4   The sucking infant's tongue
    cleaves to its palate from thirst;
  young children beg for bread
    but no one offers them a crumb.
   5   Those who once fed delicately
    are desolate in the streets,
  and those nurtured in purple
    now grovel on dunghills.
   6   The punishment ^note of my people is worse
    than the penalty ^note of Sodom,
  which was overthrown in a moment
    and no one wrung his hands.
   7   Her crowned princes ^note were once purer than snow,
    whither than milk;
  they were ruddier than branching coral, ^note
    and their limbs were lapis lazuli.
   8   But their faces turned blacker than soot,
    and no one knew them in the streets;
  the skin was drawn tight over their bones,
    dry as touchwood.
   9   Those who died by the sword were more fortunate
    than those who died of hunger;
  these wasted away, deprived
    of the produce of the field.
   10   Tender-hearted women with their own hands
    boiled their own children;
  their children became their food
    in the day of my people's wounding.
   11   The Lord glutted his rage
    and poured forth his anger;
  he kindled a fire in Zion,
    and it consumed her foundations.
   12   This no one believed, neither the kings of the earth
    nor anyone that dwelt in the world:

Zion's hope of relief after punishment
  that enemy or invader would enter
    the gates of Jerusalem.
     13   It was for the sins of her prophets
    and for the iniquities of her priests,
    who shed within her walls
    the blood of the righteous.
   14   They wandered blindly in the streets,
    so stained with blood
  that men would not touch
    even their garments.
   15   ‘Away, away; unclean!’ men cried to them.
    ‘Away, do not come near.’
  They hastened away, they wandered among the nations, ^note
    unable to find any resting-place.
   16   The Lord himself scattered them,
    he thought of them no more;
  he showed no favour to priests,
    no pity for elders.


   17   Still we strain our eyes,
    looking in vain for help.
  We have watched and watched
    for a nation powerless to save us.
     18   When we go out, we take to by-ways
  to avoid the public streets;
  our days are all but finished, ^note
    our end has come.
   19   Our pursuers have shown themselves swifter
    than vultures in the sky;
  they are hot on our trail over the hills,
  they lurk to catch us in the wilderness.
     20   The Lord's anointed, the breath of life to us,
    was caught in their machinations;
    although we had thought to live
  among the nations, safe under his protection.


   21   Rejoice and be glad, daughter of Edom,
    you who live in the land of Uz.
  Yet the cup shall pass to you in your turn,
and when you are drunk you will expose yourself to shame.
22   The punishment for your sin, daughter of Zion, is now complete,

Zion's hope of relief after punishment
and never again shall you be carried into exile.
But you, daughter of Edom, your sin shall be punished,
  and your guilt revealed.

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