## Yahweh's Wrath Spent 

###### 1
How dark the gold has become, _How_ the pure gold has changed! The sacred stones are poured out At the head of every street. 

###### 2
The precious sons of Zion, Weighed against fine gold, How they are regarded as earthen jars, The work of a potter's hands! 

###### 3
Even jackals offer the breast; They nurse their young; _But_ the daughter of my people has become cruel Like ostriches in the wilderness. 

###### 4
The tongue of the nursing baby cleaves To the roof of its mouth because of thirst; The infants ask for bread, _But_ no one breaks _it_ for them. 

###### 5
Those who ate delicacies Are desolate in the streets; Those reared in crimson Embrace ash pits. 

###### 6
So the iniquity of the daughter of my people Is greater than the sin of Sodom, Which was overthrown as in a moment, And no hands whirled toward her. 

###### 7
Her Nazirites were purer than snow; They were whiter than milk; They were more ruddy _in_ body than corals, Their polishing _was like_ lapis lazuli. 

###### 8
Their form is blacker than soot; They are not recognized in the streets; Their skin is shriveled on their bones; It is withered, it has become like wood. 

###### 9
Better are those pierced through with the sword Than those pierced through with hunger; For their _life_ flows away, being stricken For lack of the produce of the field. 

###### 10
The hands of compassionate women Boiled their own children; They became food for them Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people. 

###### 11
Yahweh has spent His wrath; He has poured out His burning anger; And He has kindled a fire in Zion Which has devoured its foundations. 

###### 12
The kings of the earth did not believe, Nor _did_ any of the inhabitants of the world, That the adversary and the enemy Could enter the gates of Jerusalem. 

###### 13
Because of the sins of her prophets _And_ the iniquities of her priests, Who have shed in her midst The blood of the righteous; 

###### 14
They wandered, blind, in the streets; They were defiled with blood So that no one could touch their garments. 

###### 15
"Depart! Unclean!" they cried of themselves. "Depart, depart, do not touch!" So they fled and wandered; _Men_ among the nations said, "They shall not continue to sojourn _with us_." 

###### 16
The presence of Yahweh has eradicated them; He will not continue to look at them; They did not honor the priests; They did not favor the elders. 

###### 17
Yet our eyes were spent, _Looking_ for help was vanity; In our watching we have watched For a nation that could not save. 

###### 18
They hunted our steps So that we could not walk in our open squares; Our end drew near, Our days were finished, For our end had come. 

###### 19
Our pursuers were swifter Than the eagles of the sky; They hotly pursued us on the mountains; They waited in ambush for us in the wilderness. 

###### 20
The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of Yahweh, Was captured in their pits, Of whom we had said, "Under his shadow We shall live among the nations." 

###### 21
Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, Who inhabits the land of Uz; _But_ the cup will pass on to you as well; You will become drunk and make yourself naked. 

###### 22
_The punishment_ of your iniquity has come to an end, O daughter of Zion; He will exile you no longer. _But_ He will punish your iniquity, O daughter of Edom; He will expose your sins!