The Lamentations of Jeremiah

⭑ Unlocked Dynamic Bible :: World English Bible Catholic ⭑

- Chapter 4 -

Previously our people were like pure gold, but now they are worthless. Just as our enemies have scattered the sacred stones in the temple, so they have also scattered our young men.

The young men of Jerusalem were as valuable as large amounts of gold, but now people consider them to be as worthless as ordinary clay pots.

Even the female jackals feed their pups, but my people act cruelly toward their own children; the mothers are like ostriches in the desert that abandon their eggs.

My people’s infants’ tongues cling to the roofs of their mouths because they are extremely thirsty; the children plead for some food, but no one gives them any.

People who previously ate fine food are now starving in the streets; those who previously wore fine clothes now lie upon the rubbish heaps with nothing to eat.

The people of Sodom died very suddenly in a disaster. But God punished my people more severely than the people of Sodom, and no one was concerned about all that we suffered.

Our leaders used to be like pure snow or white milk, they were so clean and spotless. Their bodies were healthy, pink like coral and brilliant like sapphires.

Now our leaders’ faces are blacker than soot, and no one recognizes them when they walk in the streets. Their skin has shriveled and it hangs on their bones, and it has become as dry as a stick of wood.

It is better to die in a battle than to die of hunger. There was no food to harvest in the fields, so the people slowly starved until they died.

Women who usually acted with love and compassion have killed and cooked their own children; they ate them when there was no other food, when Jerusalem was being destroyed by attacking armies.

Yahweh has shown to everyone how angry he was with his people! His anger spread like a fire in Zion (the city of Jerusalem) that burned the city down to its rock foundations.

None of the kings on the earth or anyone else believed that any of our enemies could enter the gates of Jerusalem.

But that is what happened; it happened because the prophets sinned; the priests also sinned by causing innocent people to die.

The priests and prophets wander through the streets as though they were blind. No one will touch them because their clothes are stained with the blood of those innocent people.

These people shouted at the priests and prophets, saying, “Stay away from us! Do not touch us!” So the priests and prophets have fled from Israel, and they wander around from one country to another, but people in each country keep saying to them, “You cannot stay here!”

It is Yahweh himself who has scattered them; he no longer is concerned about them. People do not welcome our priests any longer, and they care nothing for the elders.

We continued to look for someone to help us before it was too late, but it was useless. We continued to watch to see if one of our allies would save us, but none of the nations that we were waiting for was willing to help us.

Our enemies were pursuing us, so we could not even walk in our streets because they could take us as prisoners. Our enemies were about to capture us; it was time for them to kill us.

Those who ran after us were faster than eagles flying in the sky. Even if we fled to the mountains or hid in the desert, they went there ahead of us and waited to attack us.

Our king, whom Yahweh had appointed, the one who enabled us to live, the one whom we trusted to protect us when we had to live in the other nations as slaves, the enemy captured him, as you would capture an animal in a pit.

You people of Edom and Uz, you should be happy while you can, but Yahweh will punish you also. You will become so drunk that you will strip off your own clothes.

You people of Zion (whose home is in Jerusalem), the time when Yahweh punishes you for your sins will come to an end. He will bring an end to the time you must spend in exile. But you people who are from Edom, Yahweh will punish you for your sins and he will make known to everyone the wicked things you have done.

How the gold has become dim! The most pure gold has changed! The stones of the sanctuary are poured out at the head of every street.

The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how they are esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!

Even the jackals offer their breast. They nurse their young ones. But the daughter of my people has become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.

The tongue of the nursing child clings to the roof of his mouth for thirst. The young children ask for bread, and no one breaks it for them.

Those who ate delicacies are desolate in the streets. Those who were brought up in purple embrace dunghills.

For the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the sin of Sodom, which was overthrown as in a moment. No hands were laid on her.

Her nobles were purer than snow. They were whiter than milk. They were more ruddy in body than rubies. Their polishing was like sapphire.

Their appearance is blacker than a coal. They are not known in the streets. Their skin clings to their bones. It is withered. It has become like wood.

Those who are killed with the sword are better than those who are killed with hunger; for these pine away, stricken through, for lack of the fruits of the field.

The hands of the pitiful women have boiled their own children. They were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

The LORD has accomplished his wrath. He has poured out his fierce anger. He has kindled a fire in Zion, which has devoured its foundations.

The kings of the earth didn’t believe, neither did all the inhabitants of the world, that the adversary and the enemy would enter into the gates of Jerusalem.

It is because of the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the middle of her.

They wander as blind men in the streets. They are polluted with blood, So that men can’t touch their garments.

“Go away!” they cried to them. “Unclean! Go away! Go away! Don’t touch! When they fled away and wandered, men said among the nations, “They can’t live here any more.”

The LORD’s anger has scattered them. He will not pay attention to them any more. They didn’t respect the persons of the priests. They didn’t favor the elders.

Our eyes still fail, looking in vain for our help. In our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save.

They hunt our steps, so that we can’t go in our streets. Our end is near. Our days are fulfilled, for our end has come.

Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the sky. They chased us on the mountains. They set an ambush for us in the wilderness.

The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the LORD, was taken in their pits; of whom we said, under his shadow we will live among the nations.

Rejoice and be glad, daughter of Edom, who dwells in the land of Uz. The cup will pass through to you also. You will be drunken, and will make yourself naked.

The punishment of your iniquity is accomplished, daughter of Zion. He will no more carry you away into captivity. He will visit your iniquity, daughter of Edom. He will uncover your sins.