Lamentations

CHAPTER 4

Miseries of the Besieged City^*

the noble metal changed;

Jewels^* lie scattered

at the corner of every street.

worth their weight in gold—

How they are treated like clay jugs,

the work of any potter!^a

to nurse their young;

But the daughter of my people is as cruel

as the ostrich^* in the wilderness.^b

to the roof of its mouth in thirst;

Children beg for bread,

but no one gives them a piece.

are abandoned in the streets;

Those who reclined on crimson^*

now embrace dung heaps.^c

surpassed the penalty of Sodom,

Which was overthrown in an instant

with no hand laid on it.^d

whiter than milk,

Their bodies more ruddy than coral,

their beauty like the sapphire.

they go unrecognized in the streets;

Their skin has shrunk on their bones,

and become dry as wood.^e

than for those pierced by hunger,

Better for those who bleed from wounds

than for those who lack food.

have boiled their own children!

They became their food

when the daughter of my people was shattered.^f

poured out his blazing wrath;

He has kindled a fire in Zion

that has consumed her foundations.^g

nor any of the world’s inhabitants,

That foe or enemy could enter

the gates of Jerusalem.

and the crimes of her priests,

Who poured out in her midst

the blood of the just.^h

defiled with blood,

So that people could not touch

even their garments:ⁱ

“Away, away, do not touch!”

If they went away and wandered,

it would be said among the nations,

“They can no longer live here!

but he no longer looks upon them.

The priests are shown no regard,

the elders, no mercy.

searching in vain for help;

From our watchtower we have watched

for a nation^* unable to save.

we could not walk in our squares;

Our end drew near, our time was up;

yes, our end had come.

than eagles in the sky,

In the mountains they were hot on our trail,

they ambushed us in the wilderness.^j

was caught in their snares,

He in whose shade we thought

to live among the nations.^k

dwelling in the land of Uz,^*

The cup will pass to you as well;

you shall become drunk and strip yourself naked!^l

the Lord will not prolong your exile;

The Lord will punish your iniquity, daughter Edom,

will lay bare your sins.^m

* [4:1–22] This chapter returns to the focus of chaps. 1 and 2, namely the horrors of a siege. Unlike chaps. 1 and 2, however, the character of personified Zion never interrupts the voice of the poet to protest her abject state. As a result, the emotion of the poem is less intense, while at the same time seeming more grim on account of its lack of petition to the Lord.

* [4:1–2] Jewels: lit., “holy stones.” These precious things designate the children who are abandoned, starving, and killed in the siege of Jerusalem (cf. Zec 9:16). Another explanation is that these are the stones of the destroyed Temple.

* [4:3] Cruel as the ostrich: see note on Jb 39:14–16. Jerusalem, in her distress, has abandoned her children.

* [4:5] Crimson: a sign of luxury. Tyrian purple, a red-purple or blue-purple dye produced from shellfish, was very expensive and the only colorfast dye in the ancient Near East. Thus purple or crimson cloth was available only to the wealthy.

* [4:17] A nation: probably Egypt, which failed to give effective aid against Babylon.

* [4:20] Our very lifebreath: lit., “the breath of our nostrils,” that is, the king. This expression occurs in Egyptian texts of the late second millennium B.C., and may have survived as a royal epithet in the Jerusalem court. After the disaster of 598 B.C. (2 Kgs 24:1–17), Jerusalem could have hoped to live in peace amidst her neighbors; but they (vv. 21–22) as well as Babylon turned against her to ensure her total devastation in 587 B.C.

* [4:21] Rejoice: the address is sarcastic, since Edom (where Uz may have been located) ravaged the land after the fall of Jerusalem (cf. Ps 137).

a. [4:2] Jer 19:11.

b. [4:3] Jb 39:16.

c. [4:5] Dt 28:56.

d. [4:6] Gn 19:23–29; 2 Pt 2:6; Jude 7.

e. [4:8] Lam 3:4.

f. [4:10] Lam 2:20; Dt 28:56–57; 2 Kgs 6:29.

g. [4:11] Jer 7:20; Ez 5:13.

h. [4:13] Jer 6:13.

i. [4:14] Dt 28:29; Is 59:10.

j. [4:19] Jer 4:13; Hb 1:8.

k. [4:20] Lam 2:9; Ez 19:4, 8.

l. [4:21] Lam 1:21; Jer 25:15.

m. [4:22] Is 40:2.