Lamentations 4-5
Complete Jewish Bible
4 How the gold has lost its luster!
How the fine gold has changed!
How the stones of the sanctuary
lie scattered at every streetcorner!
2 The precious sons of Tziyon,
as precious as fine gold —
to think they are now worth no more
than clay jars made by a potter!
3 Even jackals bare their breasts
in order to nurse their young,
but the daughters of my people have become as cruel
as ostriches in the desert.
4 The tongue of the baby at the breast
sticks to the roof of its mouth from thirst;
young children are begging for bread,
but no one is giving them any.
5 People who once ate only the best
lie dying in the streets;
those who were raised wearing purple
are clawing at piles of garbage.
6 For the offense of the daughter of my people
is greater than the sin of S’dom,
which was overthrown in an instant,
without a hand to help her.
7 Her princes were purer than snow;
they were whiter than milk,
their bodies more ruddy than pink pearls,
as beautiful as sapphires.
8 Now their faces are blacker than coal;
in the streets they go unrecognized.
Their skin has shriveled over their bones
and become as dry as a stick.
9 Those slain by the sword are better off
than those who are dying from hunger;
since these waste away as if pierced through,
for lack of food from the fields.
10 With their own hands compassionate women
have cooked their own children;
their children became their food
when the daughter of my people was destroyed.
11 Adonai has finished with his fury,
he has poured out his blazing wrath;
he kindled a fire in Tziyon
that consumed its very foundations.
12 The kings of the earth could not believe,
neither could anyone living in the world,
that enemy or foe would ever enter
the gates of Yerushalayim.
13 It happened because of the sins of her prophets
and the offenses of her cohanim,
who, within her walls,
shed the blood of the righteous.
14 They wander in the streets like the blind;
they are so polluted with blood
that nobody is able
even to touch their clothing.
15 “Keep away! Unclean!” people shout at them,
“Keep away! Away! Don’t touch us!”
They flee, to wander here and there;
but no nation allows them to stay.
16 Adonai himself scattered them;
he will no longer look after them;
they had no respect for cohanim
and showed no kindness to the leaders.
17 As for us, our eyes are worn out
from looking in vain for help;
we kept on watching and watching
for a nation that couldn’t save us.
18 They keep dogging our steps,
so that we can’t go out in our streets.
Our end is near, our time is up;
yes, our end has come.
19 Those who pursued us were swifter
than eagles in the sky.
They chased us over the mountains
and waylaid us in the desert.
20 Adonai’s anointed, our life-breath,
was caught in their pits;
though of him we had said, “Under his protection,
we can live among the nations.”
21 Rejoice, be glad, daughter of Edom,
who lives in the land of ‘Utz.
To you too the cup will pass;
you will get drunk and strip yourself naked!
22 Your offenses, daughter of Tziyon, are atoned for;
he will keep you in exile no longer.
Your offenses, daughter of Edom, he will punish;
he will expose your sins.
5 Remember, Adonai, what has happened to us;
look, and see our disgrace.
2 The land we possessed has been passed on to strangers,
our homes to foreigners.
3 We have become fatherless orphans,
our mothers now are widows.
4 We have to pay to drink our own water;
we have to buy our own wood.
5 The yoke is on our necks; we are persecuted;
we toil to exhaustion but are given no rest.
6 We made pacts with Egypt and Ashur
to get enough food.
7 Our ancestors sinned and no longer exist;
we bear the weight of their guilt.
8 We are ruled by slaves,
and there is no one to save us from their power.
9 We get our food at the peril of our lives
because of the sword in the desert.
10 Our skins are as black as a furnace
because of the searing blasts of famine.
11 They have raped the women of Tziyon,
virgins in the cities of Y’hudah.
12 Princes are hung up by their hands,
leaders receive no respect.
13 Young men are compelled to grind at the mill,
boys stagger under loads of wood.
14 The old men have deserted the city gate,
the young men have given up their music.
15 Joy has vanished from our hearts,
our dancing has turned into mourning.
16 The crown has fallen from our heads.
Woe to us! for we have sinned.
17 This is why our hearts are sick;
this is why our eyes grow dim —
18 it’s because of Mount Tziyon, so wasted
that jackals have overrun it.
19 You, Adonai, reign forever;
your throne endures through all generations.
20 Why do you never remember us?
Why abandon us for so long a time?
21 Adonai, turn us back to you; and we will come back;
renew our days, as they were in the past —
22 unless you have totally rejected us
in a fury that knows no limits.
[Adonai, turn us back to you; and we will come back;
renew our days, as they were in the past.]
Ekhah 4-5
Orthodox Jewish Bible
4 How has the zahav lost its luster! How is the most fine gold changed! The avnei kodesh are poured out on every street corner.
2 The precious Bnei Tziyon, comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the yotzer (potter)!
3 Even the jackals offer the breast; they nurse their young ones; the Bat Ami is become heartless, like the ostriches in the midbar.
4 The leshon of the nursing infant cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst; the olalim beg for lechem, and no man giveth it unto them.
5 They that did feed delicately are destitute in the chutzot; they that were brought up in purple lie on dunghills.
6 For the punishment of the iniquity of the Bat Ami is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands helped her.
7 Her nobles were purer than snow; they were whiter than cholov, they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their appearance was of sapphire;
8 Their visage is blacker than soot; they are not known in the streets; their skin cleaveth to their atzmot; it is dried up, it is become like a stick.
9 They that are slain with the cherev are better than they that are slain with hunger; for these pine away, being pierced for want of the increase of the sadeh.
10 The hands of the pitiful nashim have cooked their own yeladim; they were their meat in the destruction of the Bat Ami.
11 Hashem hath accomplished His fury; He hath poured out His charon af, and hath kindled an eish in Tziyon, and it hath devoured the yesodot thereof.
12 The malkhei eretz, and all the inhabitants of the tevel (world), would not have believed that the adversary and the oyev should have entered into the sha’arei Yerushalayim.
13 For the sins of her Nevi’im, and the iniquities of her Kohanim, that have shed the dahm of the Tzaddikim in the midst of her,
14 They have groped about like ivrim (blind men) in the streets; they have defiled themselves with dahm, so that men dare not touch their garments.
15 They cried unto them, Go away; tamei (unclean)! Depart, depart, touch not; so they fled away and wandered. They said among the Goyim, They shall no more sojourn there.
16 The anger of Hashem hath scattered them; He will no more regard them; they respected not the persons of the Kohanim; they showed no favor to the Zekenim.
17 As for us, our eyes failed looking in vain for ezratenu (our help); from our towers we have watched for a nation that could not save us.
18 They stalk our steps, that we cannot go in our streets; kitzeinu (our end) is near, our yamim are numbered; for kitzeinu is come.
19 Our pursuers are swifter than the eagles of Shomayim; they pursued us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the midbar.
20 The Moshiach of Hashem, who was our very life, was taken in their traps, of whom we said, Under his shadow [of protection] we shall live among the Goyim.
21 Rejoice and be glad, O Bat Edom, that dwellest in Eretz Uz; the kos (cup) also shall pass unto thee; thou shalt be drunk, and shalt be stripped naked.
22 The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O Bat Tziyon; He will no more prolong your Golus; He will visit thine iniquity, O Bat Edom; He will expose thy sins.
5 Remember, Hashem, what is come upon us; consider, and behold our reproach.
2 Our nachalah is turned over to zarim, our batim (houses) to foreigners.
3 We are yetomim and fatherless, immoteinu are like almanot.
4 We must pay kesef for our own mayim; our wood is sold unto us.
5 Our necks are under persecution; we are weary, and have no rest.
6 We have submitted to the Mitzrayim, and to the Assyrians, to get enough lechem.
7 Avoteinu have sinned, and are no more; and we have borne their iniquities.
8 Avadim have ruled over us; there is none that doth deliver us out of their yad.
9 We get our lechem with the peril of our lives because of the cherev of the midbar.
10 Our skin was hot like an oven because we burn with ra’av (hunger, famine).
11 They ravished the nashim in Tziyon, and the betulot in the towns of Yehudah.
12 Sarim (princes) are hanged by their yad; the faces of Zekenim were not respected.
13 They took the bochurim to grind, and the ne’arim staggered under the wood.
14 The zekenim have ceased from the sha’ar, the bochurim from their music.
15 The joy of our heart is gone; mekholeinu (our dance) is turned into mourning.
16 The ateret is fallen from our head; woe unto us, for we have sinned!
17 For this our lev is faint; because of these things our eyes are dim.
18 Because of the Har Tziyon, which is desolate, the jackals prowl upon it.
19 Thou, Hashem, remainest forever;Thy throne from generation to generation.
20 Why dost Thou forget us forever, and forsake us for so long?
21 Restore us, Hashem, to Thyself that we may return; renew yamenu (our days) as of old.
22 Unless Thou hast utterly rejected us and Thou art angry with us beyond measure.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.
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