The Distress of Zion 1 UDB 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. BSB BSB: How the gold has become tarnished, the pure gold has become dull! The gems of the temple lie scattered on every street corner.
2 UDB 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. BSB BSB: How the precious sons of Zion, once worth their weight in pure gold, are now esteemed as jars of clay, the work of a potter’s hands!
3 UDB 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. BSB BSB: Even jackals offer their breasts to nurse their young, but the daughter of my people has become cruel, like an ostrich in the wilderness.
4 UDB 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. BSB BSB: The nursing infant’s tongue clings in thirst to the roof of his mouth. Little children beg for bread, but no one gives them any.
5 UDB 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. BSB BSB: Those who once ate delicacies are destitute in the streets; those brought up in crimson huddle in ash heaps.
6 UDB 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. BSB BSB: The punishment of the daughter of my people is greater than that of Sodom, which was overthrown in an instant without a hand turned to help her.
7 UDB 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. BSB BSB: Her dignitaries were brighter than snow, whiter than milk; their bodies were more ruddy than rubies, their appearance like sapphires.
8 UDB 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. BSB BSB: But now their appearance is blacker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones; it has become as dry as a stick.
9 UDB 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. BSB BSB: Those slain by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger, who waste away, pierced with pain because the fields lack produce.
10 UDB 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. BSB BSB: The hands of compassionate women have cooked their own children, who became their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
11 UDB 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. BSB BSB: The LORD has exhausted His wrath; He has poured out His fierce anger; He has kindled a fire in Zion, and it has consumed her foundations.
12 UDB None of the kings on the earth or anyone else believed that any of our enemies could enter the gates of Jerusalem. BSB BSB: The kings of the earth did not believe, nor any people of the world, that an enemy or a foe could enter the gates of Jerusalem.
13 UDB But that is what happened; it happened because the prophets sinned; the priests also sinned by causing innocent people to die. BSB BSB: But this was for the sins of her prophets and the guilt of her priests, who shed the blood of the righteous in her midst.
14 UDB 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. BSB BSB: They wandered blind in the streets, defiled by this blood, so that no one dared to touch their garments.
15 UDB 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!" BSB BSB: “Go away! Unclean!” men shouted at them. “Away, away! Do not touch us!” So they fled and wandered. Among the nations it was said, “They can stay here no longer.”
16 UDB 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. BSB BSB: The presence of the LORD has scattered them; He regards them no more. The priests are shown no honor; the elders find no favor.
17 UDB 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. BSB BSB: All the while our eyes were failing as we looked in vain for help. We watched from our towers for a nation that could not save us.
18 UDB 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. BSB BSB: They stalked our every step, so that we could not walk in our streets. Our end drew near, our time ran out, for our end had come!
19 UDB 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. BSB BSB: Those who chased us were swifter than the eagles in the sky; they pursued us over the mountains and ambushed us in the wilderness.
20 UDB 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. BSB BSB: The LORD’s anointed, the breath of our life, was captured in their pits. We had said of him, “Under his shadow we will live among the nations.”
21 UDB 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. BSB BSB: So rejoice and be glad, O Daughter of Edom, you who dwell in the land of Uz. Yet the cup will pass to you as well; you will get drunk and expose yourself.
22 UDB 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. BSB BSB: O Daughter of Zion, your punishment is complete; He will not prolong your exile. But He will punish your iniquity, O Daughter of Edom; He will expose your sins.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.