Lamentations 4–5

CHAPTER 4

Yahweh’s Wrath Spent

Aleph

¹How ^adark the gold has become,

How the pure gold has changed!

The sacred stones are poured out

At the head of every street.

Beth

²The precious sons of Zion,

Weighed against fine gold,

How they are regarded as ^aearthen jars,

The work of a potter’s hands!

Gimel

³Even ^ajackals offer the breast;

They nurse their young;

But the daughter of my people has become ^bcruel

Like ^costriches in the wilderness.

Daleth

⁴The ^atongue of the nursing baby cleaves

To the roof of its mouth because of ^bthirst;

The infants ^cask for bread,

But no one breaks it for them.

He

⁵Those who ate ^adelicacies

Are desolate in the streets;

Those ¹reared in crimson

Embrace ash pits.

Vav

⁶So the ¹iniquity of the daughter of my people

Is greater than the ^2asin of Sodom,

Which was ^boverthrown as in a moment,

And no hands ³whirled toward her.

Zayin

⁷Her ¹Nazirites were ^apurer than snow;

They were whiter than milk;

They were more ruddy in ²body than corals,

Their polishing was like ^3blapis lazuli.

Heth

⁸Their form is ^ablacker than soot;

They are not recognized in the streets;

Their ^bskin is shriveled on their bones;

It is withered, it has become like wood.

Teth

⁹Better are those ^apierced through with the sword

Than those pierced through with hunger;

For their life ^bflows away, being stricken

For lack of the produce of ¹the field.

Yodh

¹⁰The hands of compassionate women

^aBoiled their own children;

They became ^bfood for them

Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.

Kaph

¹¹Yahweh has ^aspent His wrath;

He has poured out His burning anger;

And He has ^bkindled a fire in Zion

Which has devoured its foundations.

Lamedh

¹²The kings of the earth did not believe,

Nor did any of ^athe inhabitants of the world,

That the adversary and the enemy

Could ^benter the gates of Jerusalem.

Mem

¹³Because of the sins of her ^aprophets

And the iniquities of her priests,

Who have shed in her midst

The ^bblood of the righteous;

Nun

¹⁴They wandered, ^ablind, in the streets;

They were defiled with ^bblood

So that no one could touch their ^cgarments.

Samekh

¹⁵“Depart! ^aUnclean!” ¹they cried of themselves.

“Depart, depart, do not touch!”

So they ^bfled and wandered;

Men among the nations said,

“They shall not continue to sojourn with us.”

Pe

¹⁶The presence of Yahweh has eradicated them;

He will not continue to look at them;

They did not ^1ahonor the priests;

They did not favor the elders.

Ayin

¹⁷Yet our eyes were spent,

Looking for ¹help was ^avanity;

In our watching we have watched

For a ^bnation that could not save.

Tsadhe

¹⁸They ^ahunted our steps

So that we could not walk in our open squares;

Our ^bend drew near,

Our days were ¹finished,

For our end had come.

Qoph

¹⁹Our pursuers were ^aswifter

Than the eagles of the sky;

They hotly pursued us on the mountains;

They waited in ambush for us in the wilderness.

Resh

²⁰The ^abreath of our nostrils, the ^banointed of Yahweh,

Was ^ccaptured in their pits,

Of whom we had said, “Under his ^dshadow

We shall live among the nations.”

Sin

²¹Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of ^aEdom,

Who inhabits the land of Uz;

But the ^bcup will pass on to you as well;

You will become drunk and make yourself naked.

Tav

²²The punishment of your iniquity has come ^ato an end, O daughter of Zion;

He will exile you no longer.

But He ^bwill punish your iniquity, O daughter of Edom;

He will expose your sins!

CHAPTER 5

O Yahweh, Remember Us!

¹Remember, O Yahweh, what has happened to us;

Look, and see our ^areproach!

²Our inheritance has been turned over to ^astrangers,

Our ^bhouses to foreigners.

³We have become orphans ^awithout a father;

Our mothers are like widows.

⁴We drink our ^awater by means of silver;

Our wood comes to us at a price.

⁵¹Our pursuers are at our necks;

We are worn out; there is ^ano rest for us.

⁶We have given over our ¹hands to ^aEgypt and Assyria ²to get enough bread.

⁷Our ^afathers sinned; they are no more;

It is we who have borne their iniquities.

^8aSlaves rule over us;

There is ^bno one to tear us away from their hand.

⁹We get our bread ¹at the ^arisk of our lives

²Because of the sword in the wilderness.

¹⁰Our skin has become as ^ahot as an oven

Because of ¹the burning heat of famine.

¹¹They violated the ^awomen in Zion,

The virgins in the cities of Judah.

¹²Princes were hung by their hands;

^1aElders were not respected.

¹³Young men ^alifted up the stone at the grinding mill,

And youths ^bstumbled down under loads of wood.

¹⁴Elders have ceased from being at the gate,

Young men from their ^amusic.

¹⁵The joy of our hearts has ^aceased;

Our dancing has been turned into mourning.

¹⁶The ^acrown has fallen from our head;

^bWoe to us, for we have sinned!

¹⁷Because of this our ^aheart is faint;

Because of these things our ^beyes are dim;

¹⁸Because of ^aMount Zion which lies desolate,

^bFoxes walk about in it.

^19aYou, O Yahweh, sit enthroned forever;

Your ^bthrone is from generation to generation.

²⁰Why do You ^aforget us forever?

Why do You forsake us ¹so long?

^21aCause us to return to You, O Yahweh, that we may be returned;

Renew ^bour days as of old,

²²Even if ^aYou have utterly rejected us

And are exceedingly ^bangry with us.