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Lamentations 4
The Voice
Lamentations 4
The Voice
4 Aaghh! The gold no longer shines;
even our finest gold is changed,
And precious gems from the holy place
are scattered and spilled in the street.
2 But worse yet, the people themselves, the precious children of Zion,
are treated like clay pots formed by a potter—
Now debased and devalued,
but they were once worth their weight in gold.
3 Cruelty marks our young women.
Even jackals nourish their young,
But like the stupid ostrich in the desert,
my people don’t care a whit for their own.
4 Desperate infants thirst for milk,
their tongues stuck to the roofs of their mouths.
Hungry children beg for food,
and no one responds.
5 Even those raised with a silver spoon,
swaddled in the richest fabrics,
Are starving, perishing in the streets.
They swarm through rubbish like flies.
6 Forever, without relief, it seems my city will suffer
more for their wrongdoing than cruel Sodom did;
With their instant and violent overthrow,
no one wrung hands in despair for that city.
7 Eternal One: Glory comes in service for those consecrated to Me;
they are purer and cleaner than snow and whiter than milk
Their bodies chiseled and healthy,
as polished as sapphires and redder than coral.
8 How stark the contrast; they have suffered so.
Now they are sullied with grime,
Unrecognizable on the streets,
skeletal and frail, as dry as tender.
9 If only they could have died valiantly by the sword—
rather than doubled over by famine,
This long-drawn agony of hunger,
deprived of the yield of the field.
10 Just imagine the injustice: loving mothers
are forced to cook their babies’ flesh.
Children have become their food!
All because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
Is this poetic hyperbole, or could such a horror really have happened? Even today, famine and disease cause devastation in developing nations reminiscent of what this poet describes happening in Jerusalem. Suffering will always exist because sin—rebellion against God—affects every aspect of a culture at every level of society. When Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Jerusalem in the early sixth century b.c., he did not allow any food or provision to enter the city; he literally waited for God’s people in Jerusalem to starve to death. As the executioner of God’s judgment, Nebuchadnezzar punished everyone equally, regardless of the severity of his or her sins, because all sin is worthy of death. The people in Jerusalem really experienced God’s dark cloud and His frowning countenance.
11 Kindling a fire, the Eternal attacked Zion
until nothing was left—not even the foundations.
His anger was poured out
as that angry fire consuming all.
12 Little did they know, thinking Jerusalem could not be breached—
not by kings, not by ordinary people, and not by anyone on the earth—
Absolutely no one imagined
Jerusalem’s enemies would get in.
13 Many and terrible were the crimes that her leaders,
the ones who should be most righteous of all, committed.
Prophets and priests shed the blood of the upstanding
and also the just in her midst.
14 Never had leaders wandered blindly,
polluted by the blood they spilled,
Untouchable even by their garments.
15 “Out! Get away from us. We’re impure. Do not touch us!”
the priests and prophets yelled.
So they wandered like fugitives, rejected wherever they went.
Even the foreign nations wouldn’t take them.
16 Presence of the Eternal is overwhelming.
God has scattered them to the winds.
He no longer held them in esteem:
the priests received no honor, the elders no respect.
17 Quietly we waited for help until our eyes failed.
We hoped and watched for a nation to rescue us.
But we waited in vain: no rescue came.
18 Routinely our steps were tracked
so that we could not even walk our own streets.
This was it, our days at an end;
we were done for.
19 Swifter than eagles in the sky,
they pursued us through the mountains;
And in all the wild places,
they hunted us and lay in wait.
20 Trapped, our king, the Eternal’s anointed, the breath of our life,
was taken to their pits;
Of him we said, “He casts a long shadow
that will protect us from the nations.”
21 Utter your words of joy: Edom, inhabitants of the land of Uz,
go ahead—be happy.
In time the cup of suffering will be yours too,
and you’ll drink so deeply, so perilously as to be intoxicated and stripped naked.
22 Viciously, daughter Zion, your iniquity has been punished.
That is done; your exile is over.
Daughter Edom, on the other hand, is a different story:
you’ll be called to account for your sins and uncovered accordingly.
Lamentations 4
New International Version
Lamentations 4
New International Version
4 [a]How the gold has lost its luster,
the fine gold become dull!
The sacred gems are scattered
at every street corner.(A)
2 How the precious children of Zion,(B)
once worth their weight in gold,
are now considered as pots of clay,
the work of a potter’s hands!
3 Even jackals offer their breasts
to nurse their young,
but my people have become heartless
like ostriches in the desert.(C)
4 Because of thirst(D) the infant’s tongue
sticks to the roof of its mouth;(E)
the children beg for bread,
but no one gives it to them.(F)
5 Those who once ate delicacies
are destitute in the streets.
Those brought up in royal purple(G)
now lie on ash heaps.(H)
6 The punishment of my people
is greater than that of Sodom,(I)
which was overthrown in a moment
without a hand turned to help her.
7 Their princes were brighter than snow
and whiter than milk,
their bodies more ruddy than rubies,
their appearance like lapis lazuli.
8 But now they are blacker(J) than soot;
they are not recognized in the streets.
Their skin has shriveled on their bones;(K)
it has become as dry as a stick.
9 Those killed by the sword are better off
than those who die of famine;(L)
racked with hunger, they waste away
for lack of food from the field.(M)
10 With their own hands compassionate women
have cooked their own children,(N)
who became their food
when my people were destroyed.
11 The Lord has given full vent to his wrath;(O)
he has poured out(P) his fierce anger.(Q)
He kindled a fire(R) in Zion
that consumed her foundations.(S)
12 The kings of the earth did not believe,
nor did any of the peoples of the world,
that enemies and foes could enter
the gates of Jerusalem.(T)
13 But it happened because of the sins of her prophets
and the iniquities of her priests,(U)
who shed within her
the blood(V) of the righteous.
14 Now they grope through the streets
as if they were blind.(W)
They are so defiled with blood(X)
that no one dares to touch their garments.
15 “Go away! You are unclean!” people cry to them.
“Away! Away! Don’t touch us!”
When they flee and wander(Y) about,
people among the nations say,
“They can stay here no longer.”(Z)
16 The Lord himself has scattered them;
he no longer watches over them.(AA)
The priests are shown no honor,
the elders(AB) no favor.(AC)
17 Moreover, our eyes failed,
looking in vain(AD) for help;(AE)
from our towers we watched
for a nation(AF) that could not save us.
18 People stalked us at every step,
so we could not walk in our streets.
Our end was near, our days were numbered,
for our end had come.(AG)
19 Our pursuers were swifter
than eagles(AH) in the sky;
they chased us(AI) over the mountains
and lay in wait for us in the desert.(AJ)
20 The Lord’s anointed,(AK) our very life breath,
was caught in their traps.(AL)
We thought that under his shadow(AM)
we would live among the nations.
Footnotes
- Lamentations 4:1 This chapter is an acrostic poem, the verses of which begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
The Voice (VOICE)
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