The Holy Stones Lie Scattered

¹qHow the gold has grown dim,

how the pure gold is changed!

The holy stones lie scattered

rat the head of every street.

²The precious sons of Zion,

worth their weight in sfine gold,

how they are regarded as tearthen pots,

the work of a potter's hands!

³Even jackals offer the breast;

they nurse their young;

but the daughter of my people has become cruel,

like the ostriches in the wilderness.

⁴The tongue of the nursing infant usticks

to the roof of its mouth for thirst;

vthe children beg for food,

but no one gives to them.

⁵Those who once feasted on delicacies

perish in the streets;

wthose who were brought up in purple

embrace ash heaps.

⁶xFor the chastisement1 of the daughter of my people has been greater

than the punishment2 of Sodom,

ywhich was overthrown in a moment,

and no hands were wrung for her.3

⁷Her princes were purer than snow,

whiter than milk;

their bodies were more ruddy than coral,

the beauty of their form4 was like sapphire.5

⁸zNow their face is blacker than soot;

they are not recognized in the streets;

their skin has shriveled on their bones;

it has become as dry as wood.

⁹Happier were the victims of the sword

than the victims of hunger,

who wasted away, pierced

by lack of the fruits of the field.

¹⁰aThe hands of bcompassionate women

chave boiled their own children;

dthey became their food

during the destruction of the daughter of my people.

¹¹eThe Lord gave full vent to his wrath;

he poured out his hot anger,

and fhe kindled a fire in Zion

that consumed its foundations.

¹²gThe kings of the earth did not believe,

nor any of the inhabitants of the world,

that foe or enemy could enter

the gates of Jerusalem.

¹³This was for hthe sins of her prophets

and hthe iniquities of her priests,

who shed in the midst of her

the blood of the righteous.

¹⁴iThey wandered, blind, through the streets;

they were so defiled with blood

jthat no one was able to touch

their garments.

¹⁵“Away! kUnclean!” people cried at them.

“Away! Away! Do not touch!”

So they became fugitives and wanderers;

people said among the nations,

“They shall stay with us no longer.”

¹⁶lThe Lord himself6 has scattered them;

he will regard them no more;

mno honor was shown to the priests,

nno favor to the elders.

¹⁷oOur eyes failed, ever watching

ovainly for help;

in our watching we watched

for pa nation which could not save.

¹⁸qThey dogged our steps

so that we could not walk in our streets;

rour end drew near; our days were numbered,

for our end had come.

¹⁹Our pursuers were sswifter

than the eagles in the heavens;

they chased us on the mountains;

they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.

²⁰tThe breath of our nostrils, uthe Lord's anointed,

was captured vin their pits,

of whom we said, w“Under his shadow

we shall live among the nations.”

²¹xRejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom,

you who dwell in ythe land of Uz;

but to you also zthe cup shall pass;

you shall become drunk and strip yourself bare.

²²aThe punishment of your iniquity, O daughter of Zion, is accomplished;

he will keep you in exile no longer;7

but byour iniquity, O daughter of Edom, he will punish;

he will uncover your sins.