This chapter is an acrostic poem, the verses of which begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. 1How the Lord has covered Daughter Zion
with the cloud of his anger2:1 Or How the Lord in his anger / has treated Daughter Zion with contempt!
He has hurled down the splendor of Israel
from heaven to earth;
he has not remembered his footstool
in the day of his anger.
2Without pity the Lord has swallowed up
all the dwellings of Jacob;
in his wrath he has torn down
the strongholds of Daughter Judah.
He has brought her kingdom and its princes
down to the ground in dishonor.
3In fierce anger he has cut off
every horn2:3 Or off / all the strength; or every king2:3 Horn here symbolizes strength. of Israel.
He has withdrawn his right hand
at the approach of the enemy.
He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire
that consumes everything around it.
4Like an enemy he has strung his bow;
his right hand is ready.
Like a foe he has slain
all who were pleasing to the eye;
he has poured out his wrath like fire
on the tent of Daughter Zion.
5The Lord is like an enemy;
he has swallowed up Israel.
He has swallowed up all her palaces
and destroyed her strongholds.
He has multiplied mourning and lamentation
for Daughter Judah.
6He has laid waste his dwelling like a garden;
he has destroyed his place of meeting.
The Lord has made Zion forget
her appointed festivals and her Sabbaths;
in his fierce anger he has spurned
both king and priest.
7The Lord has rejected his altar
and abandoned his sanctuary.
He has given the walls of her palaces
into the hands of the enemy;
they have raised a shout in the house of the Lord
as on the day of an appointed festival.
8The Lord determined to tear down
the wall around Daughter Zion.
He stretched out a measuring line
and did not withhold his hand from destroying.
He made ramparts and walls lament;
together they wasted away.
9Her gates have sunk into the ground;
their bars he has broken and destroyed.
Her king and her princes are exiled among the nations,
the law is no more,
and her prophets no longer find
visions from the Lord.
10The elders of Daughter Zion
sit on the ground in silence;
they have sprinkled dust on their heads
and put on sackcloth.
The young women of Jerusalem
have bowed their heads to the ground.
11My eyes fail from weeping,
I am in torment within;
my heart is poured out on the ground
because my people are destroyed,
because children and infants faint
in the streets of the city.
12They say to their mothers,
“Where is bread and wine?”
as they faint like the wounded
in the streets of the city,
as their lives ebb away
in their mothers’ arms.
13What can I say for you?
With what can I compare you,
Daughter Jerusalem?
To what can I liken you,
that I may comfort you,
Virgin Daughter Zion?
Your wound is as deep as the sea.
Who can heal you?
14The visions of your prophets
were false and worthless;
they did not expose your sin
to ward off your captivity.
The prophecies they gave you
were false and misleading.
15All who pass your way
clap their hands at you;
they scoff and shake their heads
at Daughter Jerusalem:
“Is this the city that was called
the perfection of beauty,
the joy of the whole earth?”
16All your enemies open their mouths
wide against you;
they scoff and gnash their teeth
and say, “We have swallowed her up.
This is the day we have waited for;
we have lived to see it.”
17The Lord has done what he planned;
he has fulfilled his word,
which he decreed long ago.
He has overthrown you without pity,
he has let the enemy gloat over you,
he has exalted the horn2:17 Horn here symbolizes strength. of your foes.
18The hearts of the people
cry out to the Lord.
You walls of Daughter Zion,
let your tears flow like a river
day and night;
give yourself no relief,
your eyes no rest.
19Arise, cry out in the night,
as the watches of the night begin;
pour out your heart like water
in the presence of the Lord.
Lift up your hands to him
for the lives of your children,
who faint from hunger
at every street corner.
20“Look, Lord, and consider:
Whom have you ever treated like this?
Should women eat their offspring,
the children they have cared for?
Should priest and prophet be killed
in the sanctuary of the Lord?
21“Young and old lie together
in the dust of the streets;
my young men and young women
have fallen by the sword.
You have slain them in the day of your anger;
you have slaughtered them without pity.
22“As you summon to a feast day,
so you summoned against me terrors on every side.
In the day of the Lord’s anger
no one escaped or survived;
those I cared for and reared
my enemy has destroyed.”
耶和華懲罰耶路撒冷
1主的怒氣像烏雲一樣遮蓋少女錫安，
祂將以色列的榮美從天上扔到地上。
祂發怒的時候並不顧念自己的腳凳。
2主毫不留情地毀滅雅各一切的住處，
祂在烈怒中夷平猶大的堡壘，
讓以色列及其首領蒙羞。
3祂發烈怒毀滅以色列全軍。
敵人襲來時，祂收回援手。
祂像烈焰一樣吞噬雅各。
4祂張弓搭箭，宛若仇敵，
祂的右手蓄勢待發，
祂殺了一切悅人眼目的人，
將祂的怒火撒向少女錫安的帳篷。
5主像敵人一樣毀滅以色列，
吞噬她的宮殿，夷平她的堡壘，
使猶大人悲傷哀哭。
6祂摧毀自己的居所，
如同摧毀花園；
祂摧毀祂所定的聚會之處，
使錫安的人民忘記安息日和節期。
祂在烈怒中棄絕所有的君王和祭司。
7主撇棄自己的祭壇，
憎惡自己的聖所，
把耶路撒冷的殿牆交給敵人。
他們像過節一樣，
在耶和華的殿中喧嚷吵鬧。
8耶和華決意拆毀少女錫安的城牆，
祂拉了準線，
定意毀滅，絕不收手。
祂使城牆和壁壘一同悲哀哭泣。
9錫安的城門陷入地中，
主已摧毀、砍斷她的門閂。
她的君王和首領流落異邦，
律法不復存在，
她的先知得不到從耶和華而來的異象。
10少女錫安的長老腰束麻布，
頭蒙灰塵，坐在地上，
默然不語；
耶路撒冷的少女垂頭至地。
11我哭得眼睛失明，
愁腸百結，肝膽欲碎，
因為人民慘遭毀滅，
兒童和嬰孩昏倒在城中的街頭。
12孩子們問母親：
「哪裡有餅和酒呢？」
他們像受傷的勇士，
昏倒在城中的街頭，
在母親懷中奄奄一息。
13少女耶路撒冷啊，我該說什麼呢？
我用什麼比作你呢？
處女錫安啊，我用什麼比作你，好安慰你呢？
你的傷口深如海洋，
誰能醫治你呢？
14你的先知所見的異象虛假無用。
他們沒有揭露你的罪惡，
以致你被擄。
他們給你的預言虛假謬誤。
15路人都拍掌嘲笑你。
他們向少女耶路撒冷搖頭，
嗤笑道：
「這就是那被譽為完美無瑕、
普世喜悅的城嗎？」
16敵人都幸災樂禍地譏諷你，
他們咬牙切齒地嗤笑說：
「我們吞滅了她！
這是我們期待已久的日子！
我們終於見到這一天了！」
17耶和華實現了祂的計劃，
成就了祂很久以前的應許。
祂毫不留情地毀滅了你，
使你的仇敵幸災樂禍，
使你的敵人耀武揚威。
18少女錫安的城牆啊，
你要從心裡向主呼求！
你的眼淚要像江河一樣晝夜湧流，
你要不歇不眠。
19你要在夜間打更時起來呼求，
在主面前傾心吐意，如水倒出。
你要為餓昏街頭的孩童向主舉手禱告。
20「耶和華啊，求你看看，
你曾這樣對付過誰呢？
母親豈能吃自己生養的孩子？
祭司和先知豈能在主的聖所中被殺？
21「老人和少年陳屍街頭，
少男少女都喪身刀下。
你在發怒的日子殺了他們，
毫不留情。
22「你從四面八方召仇敵攻擊我，
如同召集人過節。
耶和華發怒的日子，
無人能逃脫，無人能倖免。
敵人殺光了我養育的孩子。」
