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 4,5 Klgl 4,5
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,
Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul,Who clothed you in scarlet {Hebrew: with delights.}delicately,Who put ornaments of gold upon your apparel.
They are wet with the showers of the mountains,And embrace the rock for want of a shelter.
Moreover Jehovah said, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with outstretched necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet;
therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and Jehovah will lay bare their secret parts.
In that day the Lord will take away the beauty of their anklets, and the {Or, networks}cauls, and the crescents;
the pendants, and the {Or, chains}bracelets, and the mufflers;
the headtires, and the ankle chains, and the sashes, and the perfume-boxes, and the amulets;
the rings, and the nose-jewels;
the festival robes, and the mantles, and the shawls, and the satchels;
the hand-mirrors, and the fine linen, and the turbans, and the veils.
And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet spices there shall be rottenness; and instead of a girdle, a rope; and instead of well set hair, baldness; and instead of a robe, a girding of sackcloth; branding instead of beauty.
Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy {Hebrew: might.}mighty in the war.
And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she shall be {Or, emptied}desolate and sit upon the ground.
She is not afraid of the snow for her household;For all her household are clothed with scarlet.
For death is come up into our windows, it is entered into our palaces; to cut off the children from without, and the young men from the streets.
Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are found guilty: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.
The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merry-hearted do sigh.
The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth.
They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it.
The waste city is broken down; every house is shut up, that no man may come in.
There is a crying in the streets because of the wine; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is {Hebrew: gone into captivity.}gone.
In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction.
Now there was a certain rich man, and he was clothed in purple and fine linen, {Or, living in mirth and splendor every day}faring sumptuously every day:
Speak, Thus saith Jehovah, The dead bodies of men shall fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful after the harvestman; and none shall gather them.
Rise up, ye women that are at ease, and hear my voice; ye {Hebrew: confident.}careless daughters, give ear unto my speech.
{Or, After a year and days Hebrew: Days above a year.}For days beyond a year shall ye be troubled, ye careless women; for the vintage shall fail, the ingathering shall not come.
Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones; strip you, and make you bare, and {Or, put a girdle upon}gird sackcloth upon your loins.
They shall smite upon the breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine.
Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city.
For the palace shall be forsaken; the populous city shall be deserted; {Or, Ophel}the hill and the watch-tower shall be for dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks;
And he would fain {Many ancient authorities read have been filled.}have filled his belly with {Greek: the pods of the carob tree.}the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.
The comely and delicate one, the daughter of Zion, will I cut off.
Shepherds with their flocks shall come unto her; they shall pitch their tents against her round about; they shall feed every one in his place.
— ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the {Or, sitting}seat of violence to come near;
that lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall;
that sing idle songs to the sound of the viol; that invent for themselves instruments of music, {Or, like David's}like David;
that drink {Hebrew: in bowls of wine.}wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief oils; but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.
Therefore shall they now go captive with the first that go captive; and the revelry of them that stretched themselves shall pass away.
But what went ye out to see? a man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they that are gorgeously apparelled, and live delicately, are in kings' courts.
But she that giveth herself to pleasure is dead while she liveth.
How much soever she glorified herself, and waxed {Or, luxurious}wanton, so much give her of torment and mourning: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall in no wise see mourning.
Therefore in one day shall her plagues come, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire; for strong is {Some ancient authorities omit the Lord.}the Lord God who judged her.
And the kings of the earth, who committed fornication and lived {Or, luxuriously}wantonly with her, shall weep and wail over her, when they look upon the smoke of her burning,