1 How the gold has tarnished, how the fine gold has changed! The sacred stones lie scattered at the corner of every street.
2 The children of Zion, as precious as finest gold -- to think that they should now be reckoned like crockery made by a potter!
3 The very jackals give the breast, and suckle their young: but the daughter of my people is as cruel as the ostriches of the desert.
4 The tongue of the baby at the breast sticks to its palate for thirst; little children ask for bread, no one gives them any.
5 Those who used to eat only the best, now lie dying in the streets; those who were reared in the purple claw at the rubbish heaps,
6 for the wickedness of the daughter of my people exceeded the sins of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment without a hand being laid on it.
7 Once her young people were brighter than snow, whiter than milk; rosier than coral their bodies, their hue like sapphire.
8 Now their faces are blacker than soot, they are not recognised in the streets, the skin has shrunk over their bones, as dry as a stick.
9 Happier those killed by the sword than those killed by famine: they waste away, sunken for lack of the fruits of the earth.
10 With their own hands, kindly women cooked their children; this was their food when the daughter of my people was ruined.
11 Yahweh indulged his fury, he vented his fierce anger, he lit a fire in Zion which devoured her foundations.
12 The kings of the earth never believed, nor did any of the inhabitants of the world, that foe or enemy would ever penetrate the gates of Jerusalem.
13 Owing to the sins of her prophets and the crimes of her priests, who had shed the blood of the upright, in the heart of the city,
14 they wandered blindly through the streets, polluted with blood, so that no one dared to touch their clothes.
15 'Keep away! Unclean!' people shouted, 'Keep away! Keep away! Don't touch!' If they left and fled to the nations, they were not allowed to stay there either.
16 The face of Yahweh destroyed them, he will look on them no more. There was no respect for the priests, no deference for the elders.
17 Continually we were wearing out our eyes, watching for help -- in vain. From our towers we watched for a nation which could not save us anyway.
18 Men dogged our steps, to keep us out of our streets. Our end was near, our days were done, our end had come.
19 Our pursuers were swifter than eagles in the sky; they hounded our steps through the mountains, they lay in ambush for us in the wilds.
20 The breath of our nostrils, Yahweh's anointed, was caught in their traps, he of whom we said, 'In his shadow we shall live among the nations.'
21 Rejoice, exult, daughter of Edom, you who reside in Uz! To you in turn the cup will pass; you will get drunk and strip yourself naked!
22 Your wickedness is atoned for, daughter of Zion, he will never banish you again. But your wickedness, daughter of Edom, will he punish, your sins he will lay bare!
Versículos relacionados com Lamentations, 4:
Lamentations 4 talks about the destruction of Jerusalem and the punishment that the people suffered because of their sins. The chapter also describes the desperate situation of the city's inhabitants, who have gone hungry and suffered other forms of violence. Here are five verses related to the topics covered in lamentations 4:
Psalm 137:7: "Remember, Lord, of the children of Edom, on the day of Jerusalem, who said, I discovered it, I discovered it to its foundations." This psalm is a lamentation of the Jews who were taken captive to Babylon, and he remembers the suffering of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. The cited verse asks God to remember those who contributed to the destruction of the city.
Isaiah 3:8: "Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah has fallen; for his tongue and works are against the Lord to tease the eyes of His glory." This verse describes the fall of Jerusalem and Judah, and attributes the blame to its inhabitants because of their sinful actions.
Ezekiel 5:10: "Therefore, parents will eat their children in the midst of you, and their children will eat their parents; and I will perform in you judgments, and all that remains of you will spread to all the winds." This verse describes the extreme hunger that occurred during the siege of Jerusalem, which led people to resort to cannibalism.
Lamentations 4:9: "Those who were killed to the sword were happier than those who starved to death; because these, exhausted by the effects of hunger, were slowly firing, until they expired, while those, crossed by the sword, died, suddenly." This verse describes the difference between the deaths that occurred during the siege, and states that dying through the sword was preferable to slow and agonizing death because of hunger.
Jeremiah 19:9: "I will make them eat the flesh of their children and the flesh of their daughters, and each will eat the flesh of their neighbor, during the siege and the tightening with which they shall squeeze their enemies, and those who seek them take their lives out. " This verse is a prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem, and states that the people will suffer so much during the siege that will resort to cannibalism to survive.
Fejezetek: