^(A)‘Old men and old women shall again sit
In the streets of Jerusalem,
Each one with his staff in his hand
Because of ^[a]great age.

²⁰ “No more shall an infant from there live but a few days,
Nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days;
For the child shall die one hundred years old,
^(A)But the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed.
^21 (B)They shall build houses and inhabit them;
They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
²² They shall not build and another inhabit;
They shall not plant and ^(C)another eat;
For ^(D)as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of My people,
And ^(E)My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

¹⁵ The joy of our heart has ceased;
Our dance has turned into ^(D)mourning.

²⁰ “See, O Lord, and consider!
To whom have You done this?
^(A)Should the women eat their offspring,
The children ^[a]they have cuddled?
Should the priest and prophet be slain
In the sanctuary of the Lord?

²¹ “Young^(B) and old lie
On the ground in the streets;
My virgins and my young men
Have fallen by the ^(C)sword;
You have slain them in the day of Your anger,
You have slaughtered and not pitied.

²² “You have invited as to a feast day
^(D)The terrors that surround me.
In the day of the Lord’s anger
There was no refugee or survivor.
^(E)Those whom I have borne and brought up
My enemies have ^(F)destroyed.”