Remember, O Jehovah, what is come upon us:
Behold, and see our reproach.
Our inheritance is turned unto strangers,
Our houses unto aliens.
We are orphans and fatherless;
Our mothers are as widows.
We have drunken our water for money;
Our wood is {Hebrew: cometh for price.}sold unto us.
Our pursuers are upon our necks:
We are weary, and have no rest.
We have given the hand to the Egyptians,
And to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.
Our fathers sinned, and are not;
And we have borne their iniquities.
Servants rule over us:
There is none to deliver us out of their hand.
We get our bread at the peril of our lives,
Because of the sword of the wilderness.
Our skin is {Or, hot}black like an oven,
Because of the burning heat of famine.
They ravished the women in Zion,
The virgins in the cities of Judah.
Princes were hanged up by their hand:
The faces of elders were not honored.
The young men bare the mill;
And the children stumbled under the wood.
The elders have ceased from the gate,
The young men from their music.
The joy of our heart is ceased;
Our dance is turned into mourning.
The crown is fallen from our head:
Woe unto us! for we have sinned.
For this our heart is faint;
For these things our eyes are dim;
For the mountain of Zion, which is desolate:
The {Or, jackels}foxes walk upon it.
Thou, O Jehovah, {Or, sittest as King}abidest for ever;
Thy throne is from generation to generation.
Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever,
And forsake us so long time?
Turn thou us unto thee, O Jehovah, and we shall be turned;
Renew our days as of old.
{Or, Unless thou…and art &c.}But thou hast utterly rejected us;
Thou art very wroth against us.
Querverweise zu Klagelieder 5,6 Klgl 5,6
And Abraham said unto his servant, the elder of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh:
Woe to the rebellious children, saith Jehovah, that take counsel, but not of me; and that {Or, pour out a drink-offering}make a league, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin,
that set out to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to {Or, flee to the stronghold of Pharaoh}strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to take refuge in the shadow of Egypt!
Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the refuge in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.
For their princes are at Zoan, and their ambassadors are come to Hanes.
They shall all be ashamed because of a people that cannot profit them, that are not a help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach.
The {Or, oracle concerning}burden of the beasts of the South.Through the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the lioness and the lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the humps of camels, to a people that shall not profit them.
And when he was departed thence, he lighted on Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him; and he saluted him, and said to him, Is thy heart right, as my heart is with thy heart? And Jehonadab answered, It is. If it be, give me thy hand. And he gave him his hand; and he took him up to him into the chariot.
Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help, and rely on horses, and trust in chariots because they are many, and in horsemen because they are very strong, but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek Jehovah!
Yet he also is wise, and will bring evil, and will not call back his words, but will arise against the house of the evil-doers, and against the help of them that work iniquity.
Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit: and when Jehovah shall stretch out his hand, both he that helpeth shall stumble, and he that is helped shall fall, and they all shall be consumed together.
Shout against her round about: she hath {Hebrew: given her hand.}submitted herself; her bulwarks are fallen, her walls are thrown down; for it is the vengeance of Jehovah: take vengeance upon her; as she hath done, do unto her.
And thou wentest to the king with oil, and didst increase thy perfumes, and didst send thine ambassadors far off, and didst debase thyself even unto Sheol.
For he hath despised the oath by breaking the covenant; and behold, he had given his hand, and yet hath done all these things; he shall not escape.
And now what hast thou to do in the way to Egypt, to drink the waters of the {That is, the Nile.}Shihor? or what hast thou to do in the way to Assyria, to drink the waters of {That is, the Euphrates.}the River?
Why gaddest thou about so much to change thy way? thou shalt be ashamed of Egypt also, as thou wast ashamed of Assyria.
And I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed; in the land of Egypt shall they fall; they shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine; they shall die, from the least even unto the greatest, by the sword and by the famine; and they shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach.
For I will punish them that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence;
so that none of the remnant of Judah, that are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall escape or be left, to return into the land of Judah, to which they {Hebrew: lift up their soul.}have a desire to return to dwell there: for none shall return save such as shall escape.
When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to Assyria, and sent to {Or, a king that should contend}king Jareb: but he is not able to heal you, neither will he cure you of your wound.
And Ephraim is like a silly dove, without {Hebrew: heart.}understanding: they call unto Egypt, they go to Assyria.
They shall not dwell in Jehovah's land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean food in Assyria.
Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind: he continually multiplieth lies and desolation; and they make a covenant with Assyria, and oil is carried into Egypt.