How is the gold become dim! how is the most pure gold changed!
The stones of the sanctuary are poured out at the head of every street.
The precious sons of Zion, {Hebrew: that may be weighted against.}comparable to fine gold,
How are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!
Even the jackals draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones:
The daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.
The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst:
The young children ask bread, and no man breaketh it unto them.
They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets:
They that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.
For the {Or, the punishment of the inquity}iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than {Or, the punishment of sin}the sin of Sodom,
That was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands {Or, fell See 2 Samuel 2:29. }were laid upon her.
Her {Or, Nazirites}nobles were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk;
They were more ruddy in body than {Or, corals}rubies, their polishing was as of sapphire.
Their visage is {Hebrew: darker than blackness.}blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets:
Their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick.
They that are slain with the sword are better than they that are slain with hunger;
For these {Hebrew: flow away.}pine away, stricken through, for want of the fruits of the field.
The hands of the pitiful women have boiled their own children;
They were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
Jehovah hath accomplished his wrath, he hath poured out his fierce anger;
And he hath kindled a fire in Zion, which hath devoured the foundations thereof.
The kings of the earth believed not, neither all the inhabitants of the world,
That the adversary and the enemy would enter into the gates of Jerusalem.
It is because of the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests,
That have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her.
They wander as blind men in the streets, they are polluted with blood,
So that men cannot touch their garments.
Depart ye, they cried unto them, Unclean! depart, depart, touch not!
{Or, Yea}When they fled away and wandered, men said among the nations, They shall no more sojourn here.
The {Hebrew: face.}anger of Jehovah hath scattered them; he will no more regard them:
They respected not the persons of the priests, they favored not the elders.
Our eyes do yet fail in looking for our vain help:
In our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save.
They hunt our steps, so that we cannot go in our streets:
Our end is near, our days are fulfilled; for our end is come.
Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the heavens:
They chased us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness.
The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of Jehovah, was taken in their pits;
Of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the nations.
Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Uz:
The cup shall pass through unto thee also; thou shalt be drunken, and shalt make thyself naked.
{Or, Thine iniquity hath an end}The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion; he will no more carry thee away into captivity:
He will visit thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom; he will uncover thy sins.
Querverweise zu Klagelieder 4,3 Klgl 4,3
See, O Jehovah, and behold to whom thou hast done thus!Shall the women eat their fruit, the children that are dandled in the hands?Shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?
The wings of the ostrich wave proudly;But are they the pinions and plumage of {Or, a stork}love?
For she leaveth her eggs on the earth,And warmeth them in the dust,
And forgetteth that the foot may crush them,Or that the wild beast may trample them.
She {Or, is hardened against}dealeth hardly with her young ones, as if they were not hers:Though her labor be in vain, she is without fear;
The hands of the pitiful women have boiled their own children;They were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, unmerciful:
And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat.
And they shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fortified walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land; and they shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which Jehovah thy God hath given thee.
And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, whom Jehovah thy God hath given thee, in the siege and in the distress wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee.
The man that is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children whom he hath remaining;
so that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he shall eat, because he hath nothing left him, in the siege and in the distress wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in all thy gates.
The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter,
and toward her {Or, after-birth}young one that cometh out from between her feet, and toward her children whom she shall bear; for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly, in the siege and in the distress wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates.
And as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, there cried a woman unto him, saying, Help, my lord, O king.
And he said, {Or, Nay, let Jehovah help thee!}If Jehovah do not help thee, whence shall I help thee? out of the threshing-floor, or out of the winepress?
And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him to-day, and we will eat my son to-morrow.
So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said unto her on the next day, Give thy son, that we may eat him; and she hath hid her son.
Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, these may forget, yet will not I forget thee.
And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters; and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend, in the siege and in the distress, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their life, shall distress them.
Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments on thee; and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter unto all the winds.
But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children.
For behold, the days are coming, in which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the breasts that never gave suck.