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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. ¹¹Women are raped in Zion, virgins in the towns of Judah. ¹²Princes are hung up by their hands; no respect is shown to the elders. ¹³Young men are compelled to grind, and boys stagger under loads of wood. ¹⁴The old men have left the city gate, the young men their music. ¹⁵The joy of our hearts has ceased; our dancing has been turned to mourning. ¹⁶The crown has fallen from our head; woe to us, for we have sinned!

¹⁷Because of this our hearts are sick, because of these things our eyes have grown dim: ¹⁸because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate; jackals prowl over it. ¹⁹But you, O Lord, reign forever; your throne endures to all generations. ²⁰Why have you forgotten us completely? Why have you forsaken us these many days? ²¹Restore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored; renew our days as of old— ²²unless you have utterly rejected us, and are angry with us beyond measure.