Dual Panel1How the gold has lost its luster! Even the finest gold has become dull. The sacred gemstones lie scattered in the streets!
2See how the precious children of Jerusalem, worth their weight in gold, are now treated like pots of clay.
3Even the jackals feed their young, but not my people Israel. They ignore their children’s cries, like the ostriches of the desert.
4The parched tongues of their little ones stick with thirst to the roofs of their mouths. The children cry for bread, but no one has any to give them.
5The people who once ate only the richest foods now beg in the streets for anything they can get. Those who once lived in palaces now search the garbage pits for food.
6The guilt of my people is greater than that of Sodom, where utter disaster struck in a moment with no one to help them.
7Our princes were once glowing with health; they were as clean as snow and as elegant as jewels.
8But now their faces are blacker than soot. No one even recognizes them. Their skin sticks to their bones; it is as dry and hard as wood.
9Those killed by the sword are far better off than those who die of hunger, wasting away for want of food.
10Tenderhearted women have cooked their own children and eaten them in order to survive the siege.
11But now the anger of the LORD is satisfied. His fiercest anger has now been poured out. He started a fire in Jerusalem that burned the city to its foundations.
12Not a king in all the earth––no one in all the world––would have believed an enemy could march through the gates of Jerusalem.
13Yet it happened because of the sins of her prophets and priests, who defiled the city by shedding innocent blood.
14They wandered blindly through the streets, so defiled by blood that no one dared to touch them.
15"Get away!" the people shouted at them. "You are defiled! Don’t touch us!" So they fled to distant lands and wandered there among foreign nations, but none would let them stay.
16The LORD himself has scattered them, and he no longer helps them. The priests and leaders are no longer honored and respected.
17We looked in vain for our allies to come and save us, but we were looking to nations that could offer no help at all.
18We couldn’t go into the streets without danger to our lives. Our end was near; our days were numbered. We were doomed!
19Our enemies were swifter than the eagles. If we fled to the mountains, they found us. If we hid in the wilderness, they were waiting for us there.
20Our king, the LORD’s anointed, the very life of our nation, was caught in their snares. We had foolishly boasted that under his protection we could hold our own against any nation on earth!
21Are you rejoicing in the land of Uz, O people of Edom? But you, too, must drink from the cup of the LORD’s anger. You, too, will be stripped naked in your drunkenness.
22O Jerusalem, your punishment will end; you will soon return from exile. But Edom, your punishment is just beginning; soon your many sins will be revealed.