Jerusalem

Have you forgotten the wicked deeds of your ancestors, the wicked deeds of the kings of Y'hudah, the wicked deeds of their wives, your own wicked deeds, and the wicked deeds of your wives, which they committed in the land of Y'hudah and in the streets of Yerushalayim?

Yes, I will punish those living in the land of Egypt, as I punished Yerushalayim, by sword, famine and plague;

Instead, we will certainly continue to fulfill every word our mouths have spoken: we will offer incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our ancestors, our kings and our leaders, in the cities of Y'hudah and the streets of Yerushalayim. For then we had plenty of food; everything was fine, we didn't experience anything unpleasant.

"The incense you offered in the cities of Y'hudah and in the streets of Yerushalayim - you, your ancestors, your kings, your leaders and the people of the land - ADONAI kept remembering and taking note of this [insult],

But one who lives in Tziyon will say, "May my torn flesh be avenged on Bavel"; and Yerushalayim will say, "May my blood be avenged on the Kasdim."

You who escaped the sword, go! Don't stand still! Remember ADONAI from afar, let Yerushalayim come into your minds.

Tzidkiyahu was twenty-one years old when he began to rule, and he ruled for eleven years in Yerushalayim. His mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Yirmeyahu, from Livnah.

And it was because of ADONAI's anger that all these things happened to Yerushalayim and Y'hudah, until he had thrown them out of his presence. Tzidkiyahu rebelled against the king of Bavel;

so in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, N'vukhadretzar king of Bavel marched against Yerushalayim with his entire army. He set up camp against it and built siege towers against it on every side.

In the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, which was also the nineteenth year of King N'vukhadretzar, king of Bavel, N'vuzar'adan, the commander of the guard and a close associate of the king of Bavel, entered Yerushalayim.

He burned down the house of ADONAI, the royal palace and all the houses in Yerushalayim - every notable person's house he burned to the ground.

The whole army of the Kasdim, who were with the commander of the guard, broke down all the walls of Yerushalayim on every side.

in the eighteenth year of N'vukhadretzar, 832 persons from Yerushalayim;

In the days of her affliction and anguish, Yerushalayim remembers all the treasures that were hers, ever since ancient times. Now her people fall into the power of the foe, and she has no one to help her; her enemies are gloating over her, mocking her desolation.

Yerushalayim sinned grievously; therefore she has become unclean. All who honored her now despise her, because they have seen her naked. She herself also moans and turns her face away.

Tziyon spreads out her hands, but no one is there to console her. Concerning Ya'akov, ADONAI has ordered those around him to be his foes; Yerushalayim has become for them an unclean, filthy thing.

The leaders of the daughter of Tziyon sit on the ground in silence. They throw dust on their heads; they are wearing sackcloth. The unmarried women of Yerushalayim lower their heads to the ground.

What can be said to you, what can be compared with you, daughter of Yerushalayim? What example can I give to comfort you, virgin daughter of Tziyon? For your downfall is as vast as the sea; who can heal you?

All who pass your way clap their hands at you, hissing and shaking their heads at the daughter of Yerushalayim: "This city was called 'perfection in beauty'? 'the joy of the whole earth'?"

The kings of the earth could not believe, neither could anyone living in the world, that enemy or foe would ever enter the gates of Yerushalayim.

"As for you, human being, take a clay slab, lay it down in front of you, and draw on it the city of Yerushalayim.

You are to fix your gaze on the siege of Yerushalayim, and, with your arm bared, prophesy against it.

He then said to me, "Human being, I am going to cut off the supply of bread in Yerushalayim, so that they will anxiously weigh out bread to eat, and, horrified, ration water to drink.

"Here is what Adonai ELOHIM, says: 'This is Yerushalayim! I have placed her in the middle of the nations; countries can be found all around her.

The form of a hand was put out, which took me by a lock of my hair; and a spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me, in these visions from God, to Yerushalayim, to the entrance of the inner [courtyard] gate that faces north. There stood the idol that [arouses God's] jealousy and provokes [his] zealous indignation.