The Babylonian Exile

Thou hast drawn near in the day I call Thee, Thou hast said, Fear not.

Thou hast pleaded, O Lord, the pleadings of my soul, Thou hast redeemed my life.

Thou hast seen, O Jehovah, my overthrow, Judge Thou my cause.

Thou hast seen all their vengeance, All their thoughts of me.

Thou hast heard their reproach, O Jehovah, All their thoughts against me,

The lips of my withstanders, Even their meditation against me all the day.

Their sitting down, and their rising up, Behold attentively, I am their song.

Thou returnest to them the deed, O Jehovah, According to the work of their hands.

Thou givest to them a covered heart, Thy curse to them.

Thou pursuest in anger, and destroyest them, From under the heavens of Jehovah!

How is the gold become dim, Changed the best--the pure gold? Poured out are stones of the sanctuary At the head of all out-places.

The precious sons of Zion, Who are comparable with fine gold, How have they been reckoned earthen bottles, Work of the hands of a potter.

Even dragons have drawn out the breast, They have suckled their young ones, The daughter of my people is become cruel, Like the ostriches in a wilderness.

Cleaved hath the tongue of a suckling unto his palate with thirst, Infants asked bread, a dealer out they have none.

Those eating of dainties have been desolate in out-places, Those supported on scarlet have embraced dunghills.

And greater is the iniquity of the daughter of my people, Than the sin of Sodom, That was overturned as in a moment, And no hands were stayed on her.

Purer were her Nazarites than snow, Whiter than milk, ruddier of body than rubies, Of sapphire their form.

Darker than blackness hath been their visage, They have not been known in out-places, Cleaved hath their skin unto their bone, It hath withered--it hath been as wood.

Better have been the pierced of a sword Than the pierced of famine, For these flow away, pierced through, Without the increase of the field.

The hands of merciful women have boiled their own children, They have been for food to them, In the destruction of the daughter of my people.

Completed hath Jehovah His fury, He hath poured out the fierceness of His anger, And he kindleth a fire in Zion, And it devoureth her foundations.

Believe not did the kings of earth, And any of the inhabitants of the world, That come would an adversary and enemy Into the gates of Jerusalem.

Because of the sins of her prophets, The iniquities of her priests, Who are shedding in her midst the blood of the righteous,

They have wandered naked in out-places, They have been polluted with blood, Without any being able to touch their clothing,

`Turn aside--unclean,' they called to them, `Turn aside, turn aside, touch not,' For they fled--yea, they have wandered, They have said among nations: `They do not add to sojourn.'