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²²The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; ²³they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ²⁴“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” ²⁵The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him. ²⁶It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. ²⁷It is good for one to bear the yoke in youth, ²⁸to sit alone in silence when the Lord has imposed it, ²⁹to put one’s mouth to the dust (there may yet be hope), ³⁰to give one’s cheek to the smiter, and be filled with insults. ³¹For the Lord will not reject forever. ³²Although he causes grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; ³³for he does not willingly afflict or grieve anyone. ³⁴When all the prisoners of the land are crushed under foot, ³⁵when human rights are perverted in the presence of the Most High, ³⁶when one’s case is subverted—does the Lord not see it?

³⁷Who can command and have it done, if the Lord has not ordained it? ³⁸Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come? ³⁹Why should any who draw breath complain about the punishment of their sins? ⁴⁰Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the Lord. ⁴¹Let us lift up our hearts as well as our hands to God in heaven.

⁴²We have transgressed and rebelled, and you have not forgiven. ⁴³You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us, killing without pity; ⁴⁴you have wrapped yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through. ⁴⁵You have made us filth and rubbish among the peoples. ⁴⁶All our enemies have opened their mouths against us; ⁴⁷panic and pitfall have come upon us, devastation and destruction. ⁴⁸My eyes flow with rivers of tears because of the destruction of my people. ⁴⁹My eyes will flow without ceasing, without respite, ⁵⁰until the Lord from heaven looks down and sees. ⁵¹My eyes cause me grief at the fate of all the young women in my city. ⁵²Those who were my enemies without cause have hunted me like a bird; ⁵³they flung me alive into a pit and hurled stones on me; ⁵⁴water closed over my head; I said, “I am lost.”

⁵⁵I called on your name, O Lord, from the depths of the pit; ⁵⁶you heard my plea, “Do not close your ear to my cry for help, but give me relief!” ⁵⁷You came near when I called on you; you said, “Do not fear!” ⁵⁸You have taken up my cause, O Lord, you have redeemed my life. ⁵⁹You have seen the wrong done to me, O Lord; judge my cause. ⁶⁰You have seen all their malice, all their plots against me. ⁶¹You have heard their taunts, O Lord, all their plots against me. ⁶²The whispers and murmurs of my assailants are against me all day long. ⁶³Whether they sit or rise—see, I am the object of their taunt-songs. ⁶⁴Pay them back for their deeds, O Lord, according to the work of their hands! ⁶⁵Give them anguish of heart; your curse be on them! ⁶⁶Pursue them in anger and destroy them from under the Lord’s heavens.

4How the gold has grown dim, how the pure gold is changed! The sacred stones lie scattered at the head of every street. ²The precious children of Zion, worth their weight in fine gold— how they are reckoned as earthen pots, the work of a potter’s hands! ³Even the jackals offer the breast and nurse their young, but my people has become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness. ⁴The tongue of the infant sticks to the roof of its mouth for thirst; the children beg for food, but no one gives them anything. ⁵Those who feasted on delicacies perish in the streets; those who were brought up in purple cling to ash heaps. ⁶For the chastisement of my people has been greater than the punishment of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment, though no hand was laid on it. ⁷Her princes were purer than snow, whiter than milk; their bodies were more ruddy than coral, their hair like sapphire. ⁸Now their visage is blacker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones; it has become as dry as wood. ⁹Happier were those pierced by the sword than those pierced by hunger, whose life drains away, deprived of the produce of the field. ¹⁰The hands of compassionate women have boiled their own children; they became their food in the destruction of my people. ¹¹The Lord gave full vent to his wrath; he poured out his hot anger, and kindled a fire in Zion that consumed its foundations. ¹²The kings of the earth did not believe, nor did any of the inhabitants of the world, that foe or enemy could enter the gates of Jerusalem.

¹³It was for the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, who shed the blood of the righteous in the midst of her. ¹⁴Blindly they wandered through the streets, so defiled with blood that no one was able to touch their garments. ¹⁵“Away! Unclean!” people shouted at them; “Away! Away! Do not touch!” So they became fugitives and wanderers; it was said among the nations, “They shall stay here no longer.” ¹⁶The Lord himself has scattered them, he will regard them no more; no honor was shown to the priests, no favor to the elders. ¹⁷Our eyes failed, ever watching vainly for help; we were watching eagerly for a nation that could not save. ¹⁸They dogged our steps so that we could not walk in our streets; our end drew near; our days were numbered; for our end had come. ¹⁹Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles in the heavens; they chased us on the mountains, they lay in wait for us in the wilderness. ²⁰The Lord’s anointed, the breath of our life, was taken in their pits— the one of whom we said, “Under his shadow we shall live among the nations.”

²¹Rejoice and be glad, O daughter Edom, you that live in the land of Uz; but to you also the cup shall pass; you shall become drunk and strip yourself bare. ²²The punishment of your iniquity, O daughter Zion, is accomplished, he will keep you in exile no longer; but your iniquity, O daughter Edom, he will punish, he will uncover your sins.

5Remember, O Lord, what has befallen us; look, and see our disgrace! ²Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to aliens. ³We have become orphans, fatherless; our mothers are like widows. ⁴We must pay for the water we drink; the wood we get must be bought. ⁵With a yoke on our necks we are hard driven; we are weary, we are given no rest. ⁶We have made a pact with Egypt and Assyria, to get enough bread. ⁷Our ancestors sinned; they are no more, and we bear their iniquities. ⁸Slaves rule over us; there is no one to deliver us from their hand. ⁹We get our bread at the peril of our lives, because of the sword in the wilderness. ¹⁰Our skin is black as an oven from the scorching heat of famine.