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Lamentations 1
The fall of Jerusalem
Jerusalem sits alone now. It used to
be full of people. Now, she is like a widow. She was
once great like a princess. Now, she is like a slave.
She cries at night. The tears are on her cheeks. None of her lovers
are there to comfort her. Her friends have betrayed her. Now,
they are her enemies.
[1] How doth the city sit solitary, that was
full of people how is she become as a widow she that was was great
among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she
become tributary
[2] She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her
cheeks: among all her lovers she hath none to comfort her: all her
friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her
enemies.
Judah has been captured because the
people
sinned. The people were taken away as slaves. They live with people
who don't believe in God. They can't rest.
[3] Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and
because of great servitude: she dwelleth among the heathen, she
findeth no rest: all her persecutors overtook her between the
straits.
The roads in Zion (Jerusalem) are sad.
They are sad because no one travels on them to the important feast
celebrations. Her gates are empty. Her priests cry. The
young women are raped. Zion is bitter and sad.
[4] The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the
solemn feasts: all her gates are desolate: her priests sigh, her
virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness.
Zion's enemies are now in charge.
Her enemies are successful because the Lord has punished Zion for
her sins. The children of Zion have been taken away.
[5] Her adversaries are the chief, her enemies prosper; for
the LORD hath afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions:
her children are gone into captivity before the enemy.
Zion's beauty is gone. Her
princes are like deer looking for food. They are being hunted, but
they are not strong.
[6] And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed:
her princes are become like harts that find no pasture, and they are
gone without strength before the pursuer.
Jerusalem remembered the past when their
lives were good. Now, they are suffering. Their enemies are hurting
them. No one will help her, Her enemies laugh at her. They
make fun of how they worship God.
[7] Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of
her miseries all her pleasant things that she had in the days of
old, when her people fell into the hand of the enemy, and none did
help her: the adversaries saw her, and did mock at her sabbaths.
Jerusalem has sinned badly. So, she has
been taken away. Everyone that used to respect her now hates her.
They have seen her sins. She is now dirty. She didn't think anything
bad would happen to her. But no one helped her. She prayed for
help because her enemies were growing.
[8] Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she is
removed: all that honoured her despise her, because they have seen
her nakedness: yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward.
[9] Her filthiness is in her skirts; she remembereth not her
last end; therefore she came down wonderfully: she had no comforter.
O LORD, behold my affliction: for the enemy hath magnified himself.
The enemies stole Jerusalem's
valuable things. She saw foreign people go into the temple.
God had told them that no one should go in there.
[10] The adversary hath spread out his hand upon all her
pleasant things: for she hath seen that the heathen entered into her
sanctuary, whom thou didst command that they should not enter into
thy congregation.
The people of the city cry. They look
for food. They have sold off their valuable things for food.
Jerusalem says, "See, Lord? I am in very bad shape. People walk by.
They don't care. They don't feel like I feel since the Lord punished
me.
[11] All her people sigh, they seek bread; they have given
their pleasant things for meat to relieve the soul: see, O LORD, and
consider; for I am become vile.
[12] Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and
see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto
me, wherewith the LORD hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce
anger.
He sent fire down into my bones. He trapped my feet and made me turn
around. He made me lonely and faint all day.
[13] From above hath he sent fire into my bones, and it
prevaileth against them: he hath spread a net for my feet, he hath
turned me back: he hath made me desolate and faint all the day.
He tied my sins around my neck. He made me weak and made my enemies
capture me. I can't get away from them.
[14] The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand: they
are wreathed, and come up upon my neck: he hath made my strength to
fall, the Lord hath delivered me into their hands, from whom I am
not able to rise up.
The Lord has beaten down all of my soldiers. He crushed my young
men. The Lord crushed the pure, young women like grapes in a
winepress.
[15] The Lord hath trodden under foot all my mighty men in
the midst of me: he hath called an assembly against me to crush my
young men: the Lord hath trodden the virgin, the daughter of Judah,
as in a winepress.
I cry because these things happened. My eyes have tears. I am
sad because my comforter is far away from me. My children are sad
because the enemy defeated us.
[16] For these things I weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down
with water, because the comforter that should relieve my soul is far
from me: my children are desolate, because the enemy prevailed.
Zion holds out her hands, but no one
will help her. The Lord has ordered the enemy against
Jerusalem. Jerusalem is dirty around them.
[17] Zion spreadeth forth her hands, and there is none to
comfort her: the LORD hath commanded concerning Jacob, that his
adversaries should be round about him: Jerusalem is as a menstruous
woman among them.
The Lord is righteous, but I rebelled against His laws. I pray to all
of you, look at my sorrow. My young men and women are going
away to be captured.
[18] The LORD is righteous; for I have rebelled against his
commandment: hear, I pray you, all people, and behold my sorrow: my
virgins and my young men are gone into captivity.
I called my lovers, but they lied to me. My priests and church
leaders died in the city while they were looking for food.
[19] I called for my lovers, but they deceived me: my priests
and mine elders gave up the ghost in the city, while they sought
their meat to relieve their souls.
Look at me, O Lord. I am in
distress. My insides hurt, and my heart is weak. I am sick because I
betrayed you. At home, there is death.
[20] Behold, O LORD; for I am in distress: my bowels are
troubled; mine heart is turned within me; for I have grievously
rebelled: abroad the sword bereaveth, at home there is as death.
They have heard me groan. No one
comforts me. All of my enemies have heard about my troubles.
They are happy that you destroyed us. Please punish them fast like
you promised.
[21] They have heard that I sigh: there is none to comfort
me: all mine enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that
thou hast done it: thou wilt bring the day that thou hast called,
and they shall be like unto me.
See the bad things they do. Punish them like you have punished us. I
can't stop groaning. I have lost hope.
[22] Let all their wickedness come before thee; and do unto
them, as thou hast done unto me for all my transgressions: for my
sighs are many, and my heart is faint.
Lamentations 2
God was angry with Jerusalem. He covered her with a cloud. He
threw her down from heaven to earth. He did not stop because of His
place in the temple in Jerusalem.
[1] How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a
cloud in his anger, and cast down from heaven unto the earth the
beauty of Israel, and remembered not his footstool in the day of his
anger!
God took away the homes of Jacob and his descendants. He did not
have pity on them. He destroyed the walls of the cities in Judah. He
brought them down to the ground. He destroyed all the leaders and
princes of Jerusalem.
[2] The Lord hath swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob,
and hath not pitied: he hath thrown down in his wrath the strong
holds of the daughter of Judah; he hath brought them down to the
ground: he hath polluted the kingdom and the princes thereof.
God was very angry. He did not
save the army of Israel. He let the descendants of Jacob burn with
fire.
[3] He hath cut off in his fierce anger all the horn of
Israel: he hath drawn back his right hand from before the enemy, and
he burned against Jacob like a flaming fire, which devoureth round
about.
He was like an enemy with a bow and
arrow. He killed the people who were Jewish. He was
angry like fire.
[4] He hath bent his bow like an enemy: he stood with his
right hand as an adversary, and slew all that were pleasant to the
eye in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion: he poured out his
fury like fire.
The Lord was like an enemy. He
destroyed Israel. He destroyed her palaces and walled cities.
The people in Jerusalem are crying and mourning.
[5] The Lord was as an enemy: he hath swallowed up Israel, he
hath swallowed up all her palaces: he hath destroyed his strong
holds, and hath increased in the daughter of Judah mourning and
lamentation.
He has taken away His tabernacle. He
destroyed the places we met in the temple. He stopped the
feasts and sabbaths from being celebrated. He rejected our king
and priests.
[6] And he hath violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it
were of a garden: he hath destroyed his places of the assembly: the
LORD hath caused the solemn feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in
Zion, and hath despised in the indignation of his anger the king and
the priest.
The Lord got rid of His altar and
temple. He allowed Jerusalem's enemies to capture her.
Many people were yelling, as if it was a celebration for a
feast.
[7] The Lord hath cast off his altar, he hath abhorred his
sanctuary, he hath given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of
her palaces; they have made a noise in the house of the LORD, as in
the day of a solemn feast.
The Lord decided to destroy the walls of
Jerusalem. He destroyed it. He destroyed all parts of it. The
gates and bars are broken. Her kings and princes are now with
people who are not Jewish. There is no more Jewish law. The prophets
do not hear from the Lord.
[8] The LORD hath purposed to destroy the wall of the
daughter of Zion: he hath stretched out a line, he hath not
withdrawn his hand from destroying: therefore he made the rampart
and the wall to lament; they languished together.
[9] Her gates are sunk into the ground; he hath destroyed and
broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the Gentiles:
the law is no more; her prophets also find no vision from the LORD.
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The leaders of Jerusalem sit on the
ground quietly. They are mourning with dust on their heads.
They have dressed in rough, scratchy cloth. The young women
can only hang their heads.
[10] The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground,
and keep silence: they have cast up dust upon their heads; they have
girded themselves with sackcloth: the virgins of Jerusalem hang down
their heads to the ground.
My eyes can't see because I have cried
so much. My stomach hurts. I am sick because Jerusalem
is destroyed. I am sick because the children and babies are
suffering in the streets of the city.
[11] Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, my
liver is poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter
of my people; because the children and the sucklings swoon in the
streets of the city.
The children ask their mothers for food.
Then, they die in their mothers' arms.
[12] They say to their mothers, Where is corn and wine? when
they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the city, when their
soul was poured out into their mothers' bosom.
How can I help you, Jerusalem? How can I
make you feel better? Can anyone help you?
[13] What thing shall I take to witness for thee? what thing
shall I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? what shall I equal
to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? for thy
breach is great like the sea: who can heal thee?
Your prophets did not tell you the
truth. If they had told you about your sin, maybe you would have
changed. But you did not see why you were sent away.
[14] Thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee:
and they have not discovered thine iniquity, to turn away thy
captivity; but have seen for thee false burdens and causes of
banishment.
People who are passing by criticize you.
They look at Jerusalem and say, "Is this the city that people called
beautiful and the joy of the earth?"
[15] All that pass by clap their hands at thee; they hiss and
wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the
city that men call The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole
earth?
Your enemies have talked bad against
you. They are cruel and say, "We defeated her. This is the day we
have been waiting for."
[16] All thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee:
they hiss and gnash the teeth: they say, We have swallowed her up:
certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have
seen it.
The Lord has done what He planned. He kept His promise that He gave
a long time ago. He caused your enemy to defeat you and be powerful
over you.
[17] The LORD hath done that which he had devised; he hath
fulfilled his word that he had commanded in the days of old: he hath
thrown down, and hath not pitied: and he hath caused thine enemy to
rejoice over thee, he hath set up the horn of thine adversaries.
The people in Jerusalem cried to the
Lord. Their tears ran over the wall like a river. Their tears flowed
day and night. Keep crying, Jerusalem. Do not stop. Pray to God.
Tell Him how you feel. Lift up your hands to the Lord. Pray for the
lives of your young children. They are very hungry.
[18] Their heart cried unto the Lord, O wall of the daughter
of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night: give thyself
no rest; let not the apple of thine eye cease.
[19] Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the
watches pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord:
lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children,
that faint for hunger in the top of every street.
Look at this, O Lord. Think about who
you have done this to. Should women eat their own children?
Should the priests and prophets be killed in the temple?
Old people and young people are dead in the streets. Young men and
women have been killed with swords. You have killed them when
you were angry. You had no pity on them.
[20] Behold, O LORD, and consider to whom thou hast done
this. Shall the women eat their fruit, and children of a span long?
shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the
Lord?
[21] The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets:
my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword; thou hast slain
them in the day of thine anger; thou hast killed, and not pitied.
You called my enemies to come. The
enemies killed many people, even little babies.
[22] Thou hast called as in a solemn day my terrors round
about, so that in the day of the LORD's anger none escaped nor
remained: those that I have swaddled and brought up hath mine enemy
consumed.
Lamentations 3
A lonely man offers hope
I am the man who has suffered because
of God's anger.
[1] I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his
wrath.
He has led me into darkness and not
light. He has turned against me. He has damaged my skin and
flesh. He has broken my bones.
[2] He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not
into light.
[3] Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand
against me all the day.
[4] My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my
bones.
He attacked me from all sides with bad
trouble. He put me in dark places like a dead person.
[5] He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall
and travail.
[6] He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of
old.
He put a fence around me that I cannot
escape. My chain is heavy. When I cry, He doesn't hear my prayer.
[7] He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath
made my chain heavy.
[8] Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer.
He has put a stone wall around me. He
blocked my road. He was like a bear and a lion hiding to catch
me.
[9] He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my
paths crooked.
[10] He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in
secret places.
He stopped me and destroyed me into pieces. He shot an arrow and hit
me.
[11] He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces:
he hath made me desolate.
[12] He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the
arrow.
[13] He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my
reins.
All of my people think I am foolish like
a joke. They make fun of me all day. He has made me bitter and
sour.
[14] I was a derision to all my people; and their song all
the day.
[15] He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me
drunken with wormwood.
He has broken my teeth with gravel and
covered me with ashes.
[16] He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath
covered me with ashes.
You have taken my peace and success
away. I said, "My strength and hope are gone from the Lord."
[17] And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I
forgat prosperity.
[18] And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the
LORD:
I remember my misery and suffering.
[19] Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood
and the gall.
[20] My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled
in me.
But I remember something to give me
hope. I remember that the Lord has mercy. He will not destroy us.
He will save us.
[21] This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.
[22] It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed,
because his compassions fail not.
The Lord's kindness is new every
morning. Your faithfulness is great.
[23] They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
My soul says, "The Lord is who I trust. I will have hope for Him to
save me."
[24] The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I
hope in him.
The Lord is good to people who wait for Him and follow His ways.
[25] The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the
soul that seeketh him.
It is good to keep hoping and wait
quietly for God to save us. It is good for a person to work hard
when he is young. It is good to sit quietly alone if that is what
God wants.
[26] It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait
for the salvation of the LORD.
[27] It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
[28] He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath
borne it upon him.
A person should keep his mouth quiet. Then,
there may be hope.
[29] He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be
hope.
If someone hurts him, he gives him his
other cheek. He is made fun of. But the Lord will not abandon
him forever.
[30] He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him: he is
filled full with reproach.
[31] For the Lord will not cast off for ever:
God causes tough times, but He has compassion and mercy. He
is not happy to send tough times.
[32] But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion
according to the multitude of his mercies.
[33] For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the
children of men.
These are some things the Lord does not
approve of: crushing prisoners under your feet, going against
someone's rights, and cheating someone out of what he has a right
to.
[34] To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth,
[35] To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the
most High,
[36] To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord approveth not.
No one can do anything unless the Lord
makes it happen. He can make good and bad things happen.
[37] Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the
Lord commandeth it not?
[38] Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil
and good?
If we are living, we shouldn't complain
about being punished for our sins.
[39] Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the
punishment of his sins?
We should think about what we are doing
and turn back to the Lord.
[40] Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the
LORD.
We should lift up our hearts and hands
to God in heaven. We have sinned against Him. He has not forgiven
us.
[41] Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the
heavens.
[42] We have transgressed and have rebelled: thou hast not
pardoned.
You have covered yourself with anger.
You have punished us. You have killed us and not had mercy on us.
[43] Thou hast covered with anger, and persecuted us: thou
hast slain, thou hast not pitied.
You have covered yourself with a cloud
so that our prayers can't get through. You have made us like garbage
in the middle of people. All of our enemies say bad things
about us.
[44] Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer
should not pass through.
[45] Thou hast made us as the offscouring and refuse in the
midst of the people.
[46] All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.
We are afraid. We have been trapped. We
are very sad and destroyed.
[47] Fear and a snare is come upon us, desolation and
destruction.
My eyes have tears like rivers because
my people are destroyed.
[48] Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water for the
destruction of the daughter of my people.
My tears will not stop until my Lord
looks down and sees me from heaven.
[49] Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not, without any
intermission,
[50] Till the LORD look down, and behold from heaven.
I am heartbroken when I see the
daughters of my city. My enemies chase me for no reason.
[51] Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the
daughters of my city.
[52] Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird, without cause.
My enemies put me in jail and throw
rocks at me.
[53] They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a
stone upon me.
Water covered my head until I said I am
dead. I called your name, O Lord, from the jail. You heard my
voice. You came to me that day. You told me not to be afraid.
[54] Waters flowed over mine head; then I said, I am cut off.
[55] I called upon thy name, O LORD, out of the low dungeon.
[56] Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my
breathing, at my cry.
[57] Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee:
thou saidst, Fear not.
O Lord, you have saved my life.
You have seen how I was treated badly.
[58] O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou
hast redeemed my life.
[59] O LORD, thou hast seen my wrong: judge thou my cause.
[60] Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their
imaginations against me.
You have heard the plans they make to
hurt me.
[61] Thou hast heard their reproach, O LORD, and all their
imaginations against me;
[62] The lips of those that rose up against me, and their
device against me all the day.
If they are sitting or standing, they
talk bad about me. Punish them, O Lord, for what they have
done to me. Make them suffer. Punish them and destroy them from the
earth.
[63] Behold their sitting down, and their rising up; I am
their musick.
[64] Render unto them a recompence, O LORD, according to the
work of their hands.
[65] Give them sorrow of heart, thy curse unto them.
[66] Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the
heavens of the LORD.
Lamentations 4
The two year siege of Jerusalem
The gold has become dim, even the
most fine gold. The rocks that made the temple have been torn down,
and they are scattered around on the streets.
[1] How is the gold become dim! how is the most fine gold
changed! the stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of
every street.
The
people of Zion are precious. They are like fine gold. Now, they are
considered worthless like glass pots.
[2] The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how
are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the
potter!
My people are not taking care of their
children. They are like ostriches who stick their heads in the
sand. Even sea monsters take care of their babies. But the
babies of my people are thirsty. Their tongues stick to the roofs of
their mouths. The young children ask for bread. No one gives them
any.
[3] Even the sea monsters draw out the breast, they give suck
to their young ones: the daughter of my people is become cruel, like
the ostriches in the wilderness.
[4] The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of
his mouth for thirst: the young children ask bread, and no man
breaketh it unto them.
People who once ate fancy food are now
hungry. People who were rich now live in garbage dumps.
[5] They that did feed delicately are desolate in the
streets: they that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.
My people were punished more than the
people of Sodom. Sodom was destroyed fast without any human help.
[6] For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my
people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, that was
overthrown as in a moment, and no hands stayed on her.
The Nazarites (Jewish leaders) were very
good. They were white and pure like milk and snow. Their bodies
shined like jewels.
[7] Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than
milk, they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was
of sapphire:
Now they are blacker than coal. No one
recognizes them. Their skin hangs on their bones. Their skin is dry
like firewood.
[8] Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known
in the streets: their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is withered,
it is become like a stick.
People who die from violence are better off
than people who die from hunger. It takes longer to starve, and they
just continue to get weaker.
[9] They that be slain with the sword are better than they
that be slain with hunger: for these pine away, stricken through for
want of the fruits of the field.
Some of the women were starving and ate
their own children.
[10] The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own
children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of
my people.
The Lord has been very angry, and He has
destroyed Jerusalem.
[11] The LORD hath accomplished his fury; he hath poured out
his fierce anger, and hath kindled a fire in Zion, and it hath
devoured the foundations thereof.
The kings of the earth and all the people
of the world could not believe that enemies could get into
Jerusalem.
[12] The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the
world, would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy
should have entered into the gates of Jerusalem.
This was because of the sins of Jerusalem's
prophets and the sins of her priests. They have killed good
people in the city.
[13] For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her
priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her,
They have wandered around like blind people on the street. They have
gotten blood on them so no one wants to touch their clothes.
[14] They have wandered as blind men in the streets, they
have polluted themselves with blood, so that men could not touch
their garments.
Men will yell, "Get away from us! You are
not clean. Don't touch them!" None of the other nations would let
them stay there because they were not clean.
[15] They cried unto them, Depart ye; it is unclean; depart,
depart, touch not: when they fled away and wandered, they said among
the heathen, They shall no more sojourn there.
The Lord's anger caused them to leave and
be split up. He does not help them anymore. They did not
respect the priests. They did not treat the elders as special.
[16] The anger of the LORD hath divided them; he will no more
regard them: they respected not the persons of the priests, they
favoured not the elders.
As for us, our eyes became tired. We tried
to get help. We have watched for a nation that could save us.
Our enemies have hunted us everywhere. We can't go outside
into our city. Our end is coming near.
[17] As for us, our eyes as yet failed for our vain help: in
our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save us.
[18] They hunt our steps, that we cannot go in our streets:
our end is near, our days are fulfilled; for our end is come.
The people who try to hurt us are faster
than eagles in the sky. They chase us on the mountains. They wait
for us in the wilderness.
[19] Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the
heaven: they pursued us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in
the wilderness.
We hoped that the leader whom God chose
would help us. But he was trapped. We thought he would help us and
keep us safe. But he was caught.
[20] The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the LORD,
was taken in their pits, of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall
live among the heathen.
You people of Edom, you can be happy now.
But your time will come. You will be drunk and do embarrassing
things.
[21] Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest
in the land of Uz; the cup also shall pass through unto thee: thou
shalt be drunken, and shalt make thyself naked.
The people of Jerusalem have been punished.
It is over. God will not punish them anymore. But He will punish the
people of Edom.
[22] The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O
daughter of Zion; he will no more carry thee away into captivity: he
will visit thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom; he will discover thy
sins.
Lamentations 5
The author wants God to come back to the
Jews.
Oh Lord, remember what has happened to
us. We have suffered and been punished. The land we inherited now
belongs to strangers. Our houses belong to people from other
countries.
[1] Remember, O LORD, what is come upon us: consider, and
behold our reproach.
[2] Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to
aliens.
We are like children who have no
fathers.
[3] We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows.
We pay for drinking water and wood for
burning.
[4] We have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold
unto us.
We are treated badly by other people.
We work, and we do not rest.
[5] Our necks are under persecution: we labour, and have no
rest.
We needed food, so we gave up to the
Egyptians and Assyrians.
[6] We have given the hand to the Egyptians, and to the
Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.
Our ancestors are gone. They sinned, and
we are paying the price for their sins.
[7] Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne
their iniquities.
People who were servants now rule over
us. No one will save us.
[8] Servants have ruled over us: there is none that doth
deliver us out of their hand.
We are in danger when we try to harvest
our crops.
[9] We gat our bread with the peril of our lives because of
the sword of the wilderness.
Our skin was hot because we were very hungry. Our women were raped.
Our young men were hanged. No one honored our leaders.
[10] Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible
famine.
[11] They ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the
cities of Judah.
[12] Princes are hanged up by their hand: the faces of elders
were not honoured.
Our young men must work hard. Our children fall because they must
carry heavy wood. Our leaders do not sit by the gate and judge.
The young men do not play music.
[13] They took the young men to grind, and the children fell
under the wood.
[14] The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from
their musick.
We do not feel joy in our hearts. We do
not dance. Our glory is gone. We are punished because we have
sinned.
[15] The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into
mourning.
[16] The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we
have sinned!
Because of these things, our heart is
sick. Our eyes are bad. The mountain of Zion is empty. Only the
foxes walk on it.
[17] For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes
are dim.
[18] Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the
foxes walk upon it.
Lord, you will be on your throne
forever. Why have you forgotten us for so long? Come back to us, O
Lord. Let us start again like in the past. But You are very
angry with us, and You have rejected us.
[19] Thou, O LORD, remainest for ever; thy throne from
generation to generation.
[20] Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, and forsake us
so long time?
[21] Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned;
renew our days as of old.
[22] But thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth
against us.
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