The Prophet’s Anguish and Hope

3 I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath.

2 He has led me and made me walk

In darkness and not in light.

3 Surely He has turned His hand against me

Time and time again throughout the day.

4 He has aged amy flesh and my skin,

And bbroken my bones.

5 He has besieged me

And surrounded me with bitterness and 1woe.

6 cHe has set me in dark places

Like the dead of long ago.

7 dHe has hedged me in so that I cannot get out;

He has made my chain heavy.

8 Even ewhen I cry and shout,

He shuts out my prayer.

9 He has blocked my ways with hewn stone;

He has made my paths crooked.

10 fHe has been to me a bear lying in wait,

Like a lion in 2ambush.

11 He has turned aside my ways and gtorn me in pieces;

He has made me desolate.

12 He has bent His bow

And hset me up as a target for the arrow.

13 He has caused ithe 3arrows of His quiver

To pierce my 4loins.

14 I have become the jridicule of all my people—

kTheir taunting song all the day.

15 lHe has filled me with bitterness,

He has made me drink wormwood.

16 He has also broken my teeth mwith gravel,

And 5covered me with ashes.

17 You have moved my soul far from peace;

I have forgotten 6prosperity.

18 nAnd I said, “My strength and my hope

Have perished from the Lord.”

19 Remember my affliction and roaming,

oThe wormwood and the 7gall.

20 My soul still remembers

And 8sinks within me.

21 This I recall to my mind,

Therefore I have phope.

22 qThrough the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,

Because His compassions rfail not.

23 They are new severy morning;

Great is Your faithfulness.

24 “The Lord is my tportion,” says my soul,

“Therefore I uhope in Him!”

25 The Lord is good to those who vwait for Him,

To the soul who seeks Him.

26 It is good that one should whope xand wait quietly

For the salvation of the Lord.

27 yIt is good for a man to bear

The yoke in his youth.

28 zLet him sit alone and keep silent,

Because God has laid it on him;

29 aLet him put his mouth in the dust—

There may yet be hope.

30 bLet him give his cheek to the one who strikes him,

And be full of reproach.

31 cFor the Lord will not cast off forever.

32 Though He causes grief,

Yet He will show compassion

According to the multitude of His mercies.

33 For dHe does not afflict 9willingly,

Nor grieve the children of men.

34 To crush under one’s feet

All the prisoners of the earth,

35 To turn aside the justice due a man

Before the face of the Most High,

36 Or subvert a man in his cause—

eThe Lord does not approve.

37 Who is he fwho speaks and it comes to pass,

When the Lord has not commanded it?

38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High

That gwoe and well-being proceed?

39 hWhy should a living man 1complain,

iA man for the punishment of his sins?

40 Let us search out and examine our ways,

And turn back to the Lord;

41 jLet us lift our hearts and hands

To God in heaven.

42 kWe have transgressed and rebelled;

You have not pardoned.

43 You have covered Yourself with anger

And pursued us;

You have slain and not pitied.

44 You have covered Yourself with a cloud,

That prayer should not pass through.

45 You have made us an loffscouring and refuse

In the midst of the peoples.

46 mAll our enemies

Have opened their mouths against us.

47 nFear and a snare have come upon us,

oDesolation and destruction.

48 pMy eyes overflow with rivers of water

For the destruction of the daughter of my people.

49 qMy eyes flow and do not cease,

Without interruption,

50 Till the Lord from heaven

rLooks down and sees.

51 My eyes bring suffering to my soul

Because of all the daughters of my city.

52 My enemies swithout cause

Hunted me down like a bird.

53 They 2silenced my life tin the pit

And uthrew 3stones at me.

54 vThe waters flowed over my head;

wI said, “I am cut off!”

55 xI called on Your name, O Lord,

From the lowest ypit.

56 zYou have heard my voice:

“Do not hide Your ear

From my sighing, from my cry for help.”

57 You adrew near on the day I called on You,

And said, b“Do not fear!”

58 O Lord, You have cpleaded the case for my soul;

dYou have redeemed my life.

59 O Lord, You have seen 4how I am wronged;

eJudge my case.

60 You have seen all their vengeance,

All their fschemes against me.

61 You have heard their reproach, O Lord,

All their schemes against me,

62 The lips of my enemies

And their whispering against me all the day.

63 Look at their gsitting down and their rising up;

I am their taunting song.

64 hRepay them, O Lord,

According to the work of their hands.

65 Give them 5a veiled heart;

Your curse be upon them!

66 In Your anger,

Pursue and destroy them

iFrom under the heavens of the jLord.

The Degradation of Zion

4 How the gold has become dim!

How changed the fine gold!

The stones of the sanctuary are 1scattered

At the head of every street.

2 The precious sons of Zion,

2Valuable as fine gold,

How they are 3regarded aas clay pots,

The work of the hands of the potter!

3 Even the jackals present their breasts

To nurse their young;

But the daughter of my people is cruel,

bLike ostriches in the wilderness.

4 The tongue of the infant clings

To the roof of its mouth for thirst;

cThe young children ask for bread,

But no one breaks it for them.

5 Those who ate delicacies

Are desolate in the streets;

Those who were brought up in scarlet

dEmbrace ash heaps.

6 The punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people

Is greater than the punishment of the esin of Sodom,

Which was foverthrown in a moment,

With no hand to help her!

7 Her 4Nazirites were 5brighter than snow

And whiter than milk;

They were more ruddy in body than rubies,

Like sapphire in their 6appearance.

8 Now their appearance is blacker than soot;

They go unrecognized in the streets;

gTheir skin clings to their bones,

It has become as dry as wood.

9 Those slain by the sword are better off

Than those who die of hunger;

For these hpine away,

Stricken for lack of the fruits of the ifield.

10 The hands of the jcompassionate women

Have 7cooked their kown children;

They became lfood for them

In the destruction of the daughter of my people.

11 The Lord has fulfilled His fury,

mHe has poured out His fierce anger.

nHe kindled a fire in Zion,

And it has devoured its foundations.

12 The kings of the earth,

And all inhabitants of the world,

Would not have believed

That the adversary and the enemy

Could oenter the gates of Jerusalem—

13 pBecause of the sins of her prophets

And the iniquities of her priests,

qWho shed in her midst

The blood of the just.

14 They wandered blind in the streets;

rThey have defiled themselves with blood,

sSo that no one would touch their garments.

15 They cried out to them,

“Go away, tunclean!

Go away, go away,

Do not touch us!”

When they fled and wandered,

Those among the nations said,

“They shall no longer dwell here.”

16 The 8face of the Lord scattered them;

He no longer regards them.

uThe people do not respect the priests

Nor show favor to the elders.

17 Still vour eyes failed us,

Watching vainly for our help;

In our watching we watched

For a nation that could not save us.

18 wThey 9tracked our steps

So that we could not walk in our streets.

xOur end was near;

Our days were over,

For our end had come.

19 Our pursuers were yswifter

Than the eagles of the heavens.

They pursued us on the mountains

And lay in wait for us in the wilderness.

20 The zbreath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord,

aWas caught in their pits,

Of whom we said, “Under his shadow

We shall live among the nations.”

21 Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of bEdom,

You who dwell in the land of Uz!

cThe cup shall also pass over to you

And you shall become drunk and make yourself naked.

22 dThe punishment of your iniquity 1is accomplished,

O daughter of Zion;

He will no longer send you into captivity.

eHe will punish your iniquity,

O daughter of Edom;

He will uncover your sins!

A Prayer for Restoration

5 Remember, aO Lord, what has come upon us;

Look, and behold bour reproach!

2 cOur inheritance has been turned over to aliens,

And our houses to foreigners.

3 We have become orphans and waifs,

Our mothers are like dwidows.

4 We pay for the water we drink,

And our wood comes at a price.

5 eThey pursue at our 1heels;

We labor and have no rest.

6 fWe have given our hand gto the Egyptians

And the hAssyrians, to be satisfied with bread.

7 iOur fathers sinned and are no more,

But we bear their iniquities.

8 Servants rule over us;

There is none to deliver us from their hand.

9 We get our bread at the risk of our lives,

Because of the sword in the wilderness.

10 Our skin is hot as an oven,

Because of the fever of famine.

11 They jravished the women in Zion,

The maidens in the cities of Judah.

12 Princes were hung up by their hands,

And elders were not respected.

13 Young men kground at the millstones;

Boys staggered under loads of wood.

14 The elders have ceased gathering at the gate,

And the young men from their lmusic.

15 The joy of our heart has ceased;

Our dance has turned into mmourning.

16 nThe crown has fallen from our head.

Woe to us, for we have sinned!

17 Because of this our heart is faint;

oBecause of these things our eyes grow dim;

18 Because of Mount Zion which is pdesolate,

With foxes walking about on it.

19 You, O Lord, qremain forever;

rYour throne from generation to generation.

20 sWhy do You forget us forever,

And forsake us for so long a time?

21 tTurn us back to You, O Lord, and we will be 2restored;

Renew our days as of old,

22 Unless You have utterly rejected us,

And are very angry with us!