The Babylonian Exile

The presence of the LORD has scattered them; He regards them no more. The priests are shown no honor; the elders find no favor.

All the while our eyes were failing as we looked in vain for help. We watched from our towers for a nation that could not save us.

They stalked our every step, so that we could not walk in our streets. Our end drew near, our time ran out, for our end had come!

Those who chased us were swifter than the eagles in the sky; they pursued us over the mountains and ambushed us in the wilderness.

The LORD’s anointed, the breath of our life, was captured in their pits. We had said of him, “Under his shadow we will live among the nations.”

So rejoice and be glad, O Daughter of Edom, you who dwell in the land of Uz. Yet the cup will pass to you as well; you will get drunk and expose yourself.

O Daughter of Zion, your punishment is complete; He will not prolong your exile. But He will punish your iniquity, O Daughter of Edom; He will expose your sins.

Remember, O LORD, what has happened to us. Look and see our disgrace!

Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our houses to foreigners.

We have become fatherless orphans; our mothers are widows.

We must buy the water we drink; our wood comes at a price.

We are closely pursued; we are weary and find no rest.

We submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough bread.

Our fathers sinned and are no more, but we bear their punishment.

Slaves rule over us; there is no one to deliver us from their hands.

We get our bread at the risk of our lives because of the sword in the wilderness.

Our skin is as hot as an oven with fever from our hunger.

Women have been ravished in Zion, virgins in the cities of Judah.

Princes have been hung up by their hands; elders receive no respect.

Young men toil at millstones; boys stagger under loads of wood.

The elders have left the city gate; the young men have stopped their music.

Joy has left our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning.

The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned!

Because of this, our hearts are faint; because of these, our eyes grow dim—

because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate, patrolled by foxes.