The Distress of Zion 1 UST How terrible that the people of Jerusalem, who used to be so valuable, have now become completely worthless! The enemy has thrown out the precious young men at every street corner. BETH 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 UST People once considered the young men of Zion to be extremely valuable, but now everyone treats them as completely worthless, like ordinary clay pots that a potter makes. GIMEL 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 UST Even jackals nurse their young, but the women among my people have neglected their own children and have stopped caring for them. DALETH 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 UST The babies are so thirsty that their tongues stick to the roofs of their mouths. The children beg for food, but no one gives them any. HE 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 UST People who used to eat the finest food now starve in the streets. People whose parents raised them wearing expensive clothes now search through garbage heaps for something to eat. WAW BSB BSB: Those who once ate delicacies are destitute in the streets; those brought up in crimson huddle in ash heaps.
6 UST God has punished my people more severely than he punished the people of Sodom. He destroyed Sodom in an instant, and nobody cried for it. ZAYIN 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 UST Jerusalem’s most honored people used to look very pure and healthy. They had strong, attractive bodies and appeared very vigorous. HETH BSB BSB: Her dignitaries were brighter than snow, whiter than milk; their bodies were more ruddy than rubies, their appearance like sapphires.
8 UST But now they look so dark and thin that no one recognizes them in the streets. Their skin has shriveled tightly over their bones and has dried out completely. TETH 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 UST Those who died quickly in battle were better off than those who died slowly from starvation, because the starving people wasted away gradually since no food grew in the fields. YODH 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 UST Women who were normally very compassionate cooked their own children. They ate them as food when the enemy destroyed Jerusalem. KAPH 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 UST Yahweh expressed all of his anger against Jerusalem. He burned the city with fire and destroyed it down to its very foundations. LAMEDH 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 UST No king anywhere on the earth, and no one else in the whole world, believed that an enemy could ever enter the city of Jerusalem. MEM 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 UST But it happened because Jerusalem’ s prophets sinned and her priests did evil things. They killed innocent people right there in the city. NUN 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 UST Those prophets and priests wandered through the streets, confused and unable to find their way. The blood of the people they had killed made them so unclean that no one would touch even their clothes. SAMEKH BSB BSB: They wandered blind in the streets, defiled by this blood, so that no one dared to touch their garments.
15 UST People shouted at them,“Go away! You are unclean! Do not touch us!” So those priests and prophets fled and wandered from place to place, but even the people in other nations said,“They cannot stay here.” AYIN 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 UST Yahweh himself scattered them and no longer watches over them. People in those nations do not respect our priests and do not show any kindness to our elders. PE 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 UST We kept watching and waiting for a nation to come and help us, but no help ever came. The nation we hoped would rescue us could not save us. TSADHE 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 UST Our enemies tracked us so closely that we could not even walk through our own city squares. The time for our destruction was near, and our final days had come. QOPH 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 UST Those who chased us were extremely fast. They pursued us over the mountains and ambushed us in the desert. RESH 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 UST Our enemies captured the king whom Yahweh had chosen to lead us, the one who kept us alive. We had said about him,“He will protect us even if we have to live among other nations.” SIN 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 UST The people of Edom who live in the land of Uz may be happy now about what has happened to Jerusalem, but Yahweh will punish them too. He will cause them to suffer greatly and be completely humiliated. TAW 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 UST Yahweh will finish punishing the people of Jerusalem, and he will not keep them in exile any longer. However, he will punish the people of Edom and expose all the evil things they 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.
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