Beginning
37 The Lord causes things to happen.
Nobody can cause things to happen without him.
38 The Most High God causes all things to happen.
He causes good things and bad things to happen when he speaks.
39 He only punishes us when we do wrong things.
We are still alive, so we should not be angry with God.
40 Instead, we should think a lot about what we do,
and we should turn back to the Lord again.
41 We should lift up our hands and pray to God in heaven.[a]
We should be honest with God and say to him,
42 ‘We have done wrong things,
and we have turned against you.
You have not forgiven us.
43 You have hidden yourself from us because you are angry.
You have followed us so that you could kill us.
You were not sorry about it.
44 You have hidden from us in a cloud.
So you do not listen to us when we talk to you.
45 You let people from other countries think bad things about us.
They think that we have no value.
We are like things that nobody can use any longer.
46 All our enemies have insulted us.
47 We have become afraid of them.
They have caught us and they have destroyed us and our things.’[b]
48 I weep, and my eyes are red with all my tears.
It is because the enemy has killed my people.
49 Tears come like a river from my eyes and they will not stop,
50 until the Lord looks down on us from heaven.
He will see us and he will help us.
51 I see what has happened to all the people in my city.
And so I am very sad.
52 My enemies had no reason to follow me.
But they caught me as they would catch a bird.
53 They put me alive into the well,
and they threw stones down on me.
54 The water covered my head.
Then I said, ‘I will soon die.’
55 I shouted your name, Lord,
when I was in the well.
56 ‘Please listen to me, Lord,’ I shouted.
‘Help me! Save me!’ I shouted,
and you heard me.
57 You came near to me when I prayed to you.
‘Do not be afraid,’ you said.
58 Lord, you have given me help.
You have paid the price to keep me alive.
59 You saw the bad things that they did to me.
So please agree with me that they were not fair!
60 You know all the bad things that they did to me.
And you know about all the bad things that they want to do to me.
61 You have heard their cruel words against me, Lord.
Yes, you know about all the bad things that they want to do to me.
62 These people have been cruel to me.
They attack me with cruel words every hour of the day.
63 Look at them as they sing cruel things about me.
They sing when they are sitting, and they sing when they are standing.
64 Punish them for what they have done, Lord.
65 Cause them to think that they cannot hope for anything good.
Cause bad things to happen to them.
66 Run after them angrily.
Kill them all because you are angry with them.
Let nobody on earth remember them any longer.
God punishes his people[c]
4 Look! The gold has stopped shining!
Look how the best gold has changed!
The valuable stones from the Holy Place lie at the end of every street!
2 Jerusalem's men were valuable, like the best gold.[d]
Now they lie in the streets, because God has broken them.
They are like common pots that a potter makes.[e]
3 Even the jackals feed their babies at their breasts.
But Jerusalem's young women have become cruel.
They are like ostriches that leave their eggs in the desert.[f]
4 The mouths of the babies in Jerusalem are completely dry, because they are so thirsty.
And the young children ask for food, but nobody gives them anything to eat.
5 There are people here who had been very rich.
They ate the best foods, but now they are hungry.
Now they lie in the streets with nothing to eat.
They wore the best clothes, but now they sit in the ashes.
6 God has punished my people.
He punished us more than he punished Sodom's people.
God destroyed that city in a moment, and nobody was there to help them.[g]
7 In past times, the leaders of Jerusalem were more pure than very white snow.
They were strong and healthy.
Their bodies seemed to shine like valuable stones.
8 Now their faces are dirty and black.
People see them in the streets, but they do not recognize them.
Their skin hangs on their bones.
Their skin is as dry as wood for a fire.[h]
9 Our enemies have killed many people with long knives.
It is better for those dead people
than for the people who have no food.
They are very hungry.
And they die slowly because they have nothing to eat.[i]
10 Women who once were very kind
have boiled their own children.
Their children became their food,
when the enemies were destroying the city.[j]
11 The Lord was very angry.
So he sent fire to burn Zion.
It destroyed the whole city, even the strongest houses.
12 The kings in the other cities on earth could not believe it.[k]
None of the people on earth could believe it.
They thought that no enemy could go through Jerusalem's gates.
13 God punished Jerusalem and its people because their leaders sinned.
God did not like the things that their prophets and priests did.
They had caused good people to die.
14 Those leaders walked in the streets like men who cannot see.
There was blood on their clothes and everybody was afraid to touch them.
15 ‘Go away!’ people shouted at them.
‘Do not touch us!
You are too dirty to be among God's people!’
So they went away to other countries, but the people there did not want them.
‘They cannot stay here with us!’ those people said.
16 The Lord himself has sent them away.
He will not take care of them any longer.
Nobody respects the priests.
Nobody is kind to the leaders.[l]
17 Our eyes became red as we watched.
We were looking for help, but it did not come.
The people from other countries could not save us.
18 Enemies ran after us, so that we could not go into the streets any longer.
We knew that we would die soon.
We could not live like this any longer.
19 The enemy was quicker than big birds that fly in the air.
They followed us so that they could catch us out on the mountains.
They hid and they waited for us in the desert.
20 The Lord had chosen a man to be our king.
We thought that he would save us.
‘Under his shadow we will live among the other countries,’ we had always said.
But the enemy caught him.[m]
21 You, Edom's people, live in the country called Uz. And you are happy now.
But at a future time, God will hurt you too.
The enemy will take away everything that you have.
So you will become like drunks.
22 God has finished punishing Zion's people.
He will let them return to their homes soon.
But you, Edom's people, God will certainly punish you.[n]
He will discover everything that you have done wrong.
A prayer[o]
5 Lord, please remember the trouble that has happened to us.
Look at us, because we are ashamed.
2 Strangers have taken the land that our ancestors gave to us.
Foreign people live in our homes.
3 We are children whose fathers have died.
Our mothers no longer have husbands.
4 We must pay money for the water that we drink.
We must buy wood for our fires.
5 Our enemies cause us to work like animals.
But the work is too difficult
and they will not let us rest.
6 We gave ourselves to the Egyptians and to the Assyrians,
so that we could get food to eat.
7 Our ancestors sinned, but they are dead.
Now we have the troubles that you caused because of them.
You punished us because of their sin.[p]
8 Slaves now rule us.
And there is nobody to save us from their power.
9 We meet danger when we work in the fields.[q]
Enemies are everywhere and they want to kill us.
10 Our skin feels as if we are burning.
We are so hungry that we are ill.
11 Enemies do what they want with the women in Zion.
They are cruel to the young women in Judah's cities.
12 They hang our leaders by their hands.
And they are cruel to our old men too.
13 They took the young men to make flour for them, like slaves.
Our boys have to carry heavy bags of wood.
14 Our enemies no longer let our old men decide things.[r]
The old men cannot say what is right or fair for us.
And the young men have stopped their music.
15 We are not happy any longer.
Instead, we are very sad,
so we do not dance any longer.
16 And we have no king in Jerusalem any longer.
We have sinned, so it will be very bad for us.
17 So our bodies feel ill and we feel ill deep inside us.
Our eyes are very tired and we cannot hope for good things any longer.
18 We are so sad because they destroyed Zion's walls and buildings.
Wild animals walk on them now.
19 But you, Lord, will be king for ever.
You will always rule us.
20 Tell us why you have forgotten us.
Tell us why you have left us alone for so long.
21 Help us to come back to you, Lord.
Let us be great again, like we were long ago.
22 Please do that, unless you have turned away from us completely.
Do not continue to be angry with us more than we can take.[s]
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