Add parallel Print Page Options

Chapter 1

The Desolation of Jerusalem[a]

How solitary sits the city,
    once filled with people.
She who was great among the nations
    is now like a widow.
Once a princess among the provinces,
    now a toiling slave.

She weeps incessantly in the night,
    her cheeks damp with tears.
She has no one to comfort her
    from all her lovers;[b]
Her friends have all betrayed her,
    and become her enemies.(A)

Judah has gone into exile,
    after oppression and harsh labor;
She dwells among the nations,
    yet finds no rest:(B)
All her pursuers overtake her
    in the narrow straits.

The roads to Zion mourn,
    empty of pilgrims to her feasts.
All her gateways are desolate,
    her priests groan,
Her young women grieve;
    her lot is bitter.(C)

Her foes have come out on top,
    her enemies are secure;
Because the Lord has afflicted her
    for her many rebellions.
Her children have gone away,
    captive before the foe.

From daughter Zion has gone
    all her glory:
Her princes have become like rams
    that find no pasture.
They have gone off exhausted
    before their pursuers.

Jerusalem remembers
    in days of wretched homelessness,
All the precious things she once had
    in days gone by.
But when her people fell into the hands of the foe,
    and she had no help,
Her foes looked on and laughed
    at her collapse.

Jerusalem has sinned grievously,
    therefore she has become a mockery;
Those who honored her now demean her,
    for they saw her nakedness;
She herself groans out loud,
    and turns away.(D)

Her uncleanness is on her skirt;
    she has no thought of her future.
Her downfall is astonishing,
    with no one to comfort her.
“Look, O Lord, at my misery;
    how the enemy triumphs!”[c]

10 The foe stretched out his hands
    to all her precious things;
She has seen the nations
    enter her sanctuary,
Those you forbade to come
    into your assembly.(E)

11 All her people groan,
    searching for bread;
They give their precious things for food,
    to retain the breath of life.
“Look, O Lord, and pay attention
    to how I have been demeaned!

12 Come, all who pass by the way,
    pay attention and see:
Is there any pain like my pain,
    which has been ruthlessly inflicted upon me,
With which the Lord has tormented me
    on the day of his blazing wrath?

13 From on high he hurled fire down
    into my very bones;
He spread out a net for my feet,
    and turned me back.
He has left me desolate,
    in misery all day long.(F)

14 The yoke of my rebellions is bound together,
    fastened by his hand.
His yoke is upon my neck;
    he has made my strength fail.
The Lord has delivered me into the grip
    of those I cannot resist.

15 All my valiant warriors
    my Lord has cast away;
He proclaimed a feast against me
    to crush my young men;
My Lord has trodden in the wine press
    virgin daughter Judah.

16 For these things I weep—My eyes! My eyes!
    They stream with tears!
How far from me is anyone to comfort,
    anyone to restore my life.
My children are desolate;
    the enemy has prevailed.”(G)

17 Zion stretches out her hands,
    with no one to comfort her;
The Lord has ordered against Jacob
    his foes all around;
Jerusalem has become in their midst
    a thing unclean.

18 “The Lord is in the right;
    I had defied his command.
Listen, all you peoples,
    and see my pain:
My young women and young men
    have gone into captivity.(H)

19 I cried out to my lovers,
    but they failed me.(I)
My priests and my elders
    perished in the city;
How desperately they searched for food,
    to save their lives!

20 Look, O Lord, at the anguish I suffer!
    My stomach churns,
And my heart recoils within me:
    How bitter I am!
Outside the sword bereaves—
    indoors, there is death.(J)

21 Hear how I am groaning;
    there is no one to comfort me.
All my enemies hear of my misery and rejoice
    over what you have done.
Bring on the day you proclaimed,
    and let them become like me!

22 Let all their evil come before you
    and deal with them
As you have so ruthlessly dealt with me
    for all my rebellions.
My groans are many,
    my heart is sick.”(K)

Footnotes

  1. 1:1–22 In this poem the poet first takes on the persona of an observer describing Jerusalem’s abject state after the destruction wrought by the Babylonian army (vv. 1–11a); but the detached tone gives way to a more impassioned appeal when the city itself—personified as the grieving widow and mother Zion—abruptly intrudes upon this description (vv. 9c, 11c–16, 18–22) to demand that God look squarely at her misery.
  2. 1:2 Lovers: language of love was typically used to describe the relationship between treaty partners, thus here it connotes Judah’s allies (see v. 19).
  3. 1:9 Zion breaks in on the poet’s description in v. 9c, albeit briefly, to demand that the Lord face squarely her misery. She takes up the lament in a more sustained fashion in v. 11c.

Sins of the Flesh[a]

16 Two types of people multiply sins,
    and a third[b] draws down wrath:
Burning passion is like a blazing fire,
    not to be quenched till it burns itself out;
One unchaste with his kindred
    never stops until fire breaks forth.
17 To the unchaste all bread is sweet;
    he is never through till he dies.(A)

18 The man who dishonors his marriage bed
    says to himself, “Who can see me?
Darkness surrounds me, walls hide me,
    no one sees me. Who can stop me from sinning?”(B)
He is not mindful of the Most High,
19     fearing only human eyes.
He does not realize that the eyes of the Lord,
    ten thousand times brighter than the sun,
Observe every step taken
    and peer into hidden corners.
20 The one who knows all things before they exist
    still knows them all after they are made.
21 Such a man will be denounced in the streets of the city;(C)
    and where he least suspects it, he will be apprehended.

22 So it is with the woman unfaithful to her husband,
    who offers him an heir by another man.
23 First of all, she has disobeyed the law of the Most High;
    second, she has wronged her husband;
Third, through her wanton adultery
    she has brought forth children by another man.
24 Such a woman will be dragged before the assembly,[c]
    and her punishment will extend to her children.
25 Her children will not take root;
    her branches will not bring forth fruit.
26 She will leave behind an accursed memory;
    her disgrace will never be blotted out.

27 Thus all who dwell on the earth shall know,
    all who remain in the world shall understand,
That nothing is better than the fear of the Lord,
    nothing sweeter than obeying the commandments of the Lord.(D)[d]

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 23:16–27 Ben Sira treats sexual sins and their consequences. Lust destroys its victims (vv. 16–17, 22–26). A false sense of security aggravates the adulterer’s inevitable fate (vv. 18–21).
  2. 23:16 Two types…a third: a numerical proverb, as in 25:1–2, 7–11; 26:5–6, 28; 50:25–26; Prv 6:16–19; 30:15b–16, 18–19, 21–23, 29–31. Ben Sira condemns three kinds of sexual sin: incest (v. 16), fornication (v. 17), and adultery (vv. 18–26).
  3. 23:24–25 The judgment of the assembly determined the illegitimacy of children born of adultery or incest and excluded them from the “community of the Lord” (Dt 23:3). Cf. Wis 3:16–19; 4:3–6.
  4. 23:27

    Other ancient texts read as v. 28:

    It is a great glory to follow after God,

    and for you to be received by him is length of days.

Chapter 12

The Anointing at Bethany.(A) [a]Six days before Passover Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.(B) They gave a dinner for him there, and Martha served, while Lazarus was one of those reclining at table with him.(C) Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil made from genuine aromatic nard and anointed the feet of Jesus[b] and dried them with her hair; the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.(D) Then Judas the Iscariot, one [of] his disciples, and the one who would betray him, said, “Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days’ wages[c] and given to the poor?” He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief and held the money bag and used to steal the contributions.(E) So Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Let her keep this for the day of my burial.[d] You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”(F)

[The] large crowd of the Jews found out that he was there and came, not only because of Jesus, but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.(G) 10 And the chief priests plotted to kill Lazarus too, 11 because many of the Jews were turning away and believing in Jesus because of him.(H)

The Entry into Jerusalem.[e] 12 (I)On the next day, when the great crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, 13 they took palm branches[f] and went out to meet him, and cried out:

“Hosanna!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord,
    [even] the king of Israel.”(J)

14 Jesus found an ass and sat upon it, as is written:

15 “Fear no more, O daughter Zion;[g]
    see, your king comes, seated upon an ass’s colt.”(K)

16 His disciples did not understand this at first, but when Jesus had been glorified they remembered that these things were written about him and that they had done this[h] for him.(L) 17 [i]So the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from death continued to testify. 18 This was [also] why the crowd went to meet him, because they heard that he had done this sign. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the whole world[j] has gone after him.”(M)

The Coming of Jesus’ Hour.[k] 20 Now there were some Greeks[l] among those who had come up to worship at the feast.(N) 21 [m]They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.”(O) 22 Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.(P) 23 [n]Jesus answered them,(Q) “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 [o]Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat;(R) but if it dies, it produces much fruit. 25 Whoever loves his life[p] loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life.(S) 26 Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me.(T)

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 12:1–8 This is probably the same scene of anointing found in Mk 14:3–9 (see note there) and Mt 26:6–13. The anointing by a penitent woman in Lk 7:36–38 is different. Details from these various episodes have become interchanged.
  2. 12:3 The feet of Jesus: so Mk 14:3; but in Mt 26:6, Mary anoints Jesus’ head as a sign of regal, messianic anointing.
  3. 12:5 Days’ wages: literally, “denarii.” A denarius is a day’s wage in Mt 20:2; see note on Jn 6:7.
  4. 12:7 Jesus’ response reflects the rabbinical discussion of what was the greatest act of mercy, almsgiving or burying the dead. Those who favored proper burial of the dead thought it an essential condition for sharing in the resurrection.
  5. 12:12–19 In John, the entry into Jerusalem follows the anointing whereas in the synoptics it precedes. In John, the crowd, not the disciples, are responsible for the triumphal procession.
  6. 12:13 Palm branches: used to welcome great conquerors; cf. 1 Mc 13:51; 2 Mc 10:7. They may be related to the lûlāb, the twig bundles used at the feast of Tabernacles. Hosanna: see Ps 118:25–26. The Hebrew word means: “(O Lord), grant salvation.” He who comes in the name of the Lord: referred in Ps 118:26 to a pilgrim entering the temple gates, but here a title for Jesus (see notes on Mt 11:3 and Jn 6:14; 11:27). The king of Israel: perhaps from Zep 3:14–15, in connection with the next quotation from Zec 9:9.
  7. 12:15 Daughter Zion: Jerusalem. Ass’s colt: symbol of peace, as opposed to the war horse.
  8. 12:16 They had done this: the antecedent of they is ambiguous.
  9. 12:17–18 There seem to be two different crowds in these verses. There are some good witnesses to the text that have another reading for Jn 12:17: “Then the crowd that was with him began to testify that he had called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead.”
  10. 12:19 The whole world: the sense is that everyone is following Jesus, but John has an ironic play on world; he alludes to the universality of salvation (Jn 3:17; 4:42).
  11. 12:20–36 This announcement of glorification by death is an illustration of “the whole world” (Jn 12:19) going after him.
  12. 12:20 Greeks: not used here in a nationalistic sense. These are probably Gentile proselytes to Judaism; cf. Jn 7:35.
  13. 12:21–22 Philip…Andrew: the approach is made through disciples who have distinctly Greek names, suggesting that access to Jesus was mediated to the Greek world through his disciples. Philip and Andrew were from Bethsaida (Jn 1:44); Galileans were mostly bilingual. See: here seems to mean “have an interview with.”
  14. 12:23 Jesus’ response suggests that only after the crucifixion could the gospel encompass both Jew and Gentile.
  15. 12:24 This verse implies that through his death Jesus will be accessible to all. It remains just a grain of wheat: this saying is found in the synoptic triple and double traditions (Mk 8:35; Mt 16:25; Lk 9:24; Mt 10:39; Lk 17:33). John adds the phrases (Jn 12:25) in this world and for eternal life.
  16. 12:25 His life: the Greek word psychē refers to a person’s natural life. It does not mean “soul,” for Hebrew anthropology did not postulate body/soul dualism in the way that is familiar to us.