The Father's Anger Lays Zion Waste
2 1 How the Sovereign Father in his anger has shrouded daughter Zion in a cloud! He has hurled down from heaven to earth the splendor of Israel; he has not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger. a a v1 His footstool: the Jerusalem temple, the earthly place where God's presence dwelt. 2 The Sovereign Father has swallowed up without mercy all the dwellings of Jacob; in his wrath he has torn down the strongholds of daughter Judah. He has brought down to the ground in dishonor her kingdom and its rulers. 3 In fierce anger he has stripped Israel of all her strength; he has withdrawn his right hand and left them exposed to the enemy. He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire that consumes on every side. 4 He has bent his bow like an enemy, his right hand poised like a foe; and he has killed all who were lovely to see. In the tent of daughter Zion he has poured out his fury like fire. 5 The Sovereign Father has become like an enemy; he has swallowed up Israel. He has swallowed up all her palaces and laid in ruins her strongholds, and he has heaped mourning and lamentation on daughter Judah. 6 He has stripped his shelter like a garden, he has ruined his appointed place. Our Father has made Zion forget appointed feast and sabbath, and in his fierce anger he has spurned king and priest. 7 The Sovereign Father has rejected his altar, disowned his sanctuary; he has handed over to the enemy the walls of her palaces. They raised a shout in the house of our Father as on a day of festival. 8 Our Father determined to lay in ruins the wall of daughter Zion. He stretched out the measuring line; he did not hold back his hand from destroying. He made rampart and wall lament; together they languish. 9 Her gates have sunk into the ground; he has ruined and broken her bars. Her king and her princes are among the nations; the law is no more, and her prophets find no vision from our Father. 10 The elders of daughter Zion sit on the ground in silence they have thrown dust on their heads and put on mourning clothes. The young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground. b b v10 Throwing dust on the head was an ancient sign of deep mourning and grief. 11 My eyes are worn out from weeping; my stomach churns; my heart is poured out on the ground because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, as children and infants faint in the streets of the city. 12 They cry to their mothers, "Where is bread and wine? " as they faint like the wounded in the streets of the city, as their life is poured out in their mothers' arms. 13 What can I say for you, to what can I compare you, daughter Jerusalem? What can I liken to you, that I may comfort you, virgin daughter Zion? For your ruin is vast as the sea; who can heal you? 14 Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions; they did not expose your guilt to restore your fortunes, but have seen for you oracles that are false and misleading. 15 All who pass by clap their hands at you; they hiss and shake their heads at daughter Jerusalem: "Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth? 16 All your enemies open their mouths against you; they hiss and gnash their teeth and cry, "We have swallowed her! This is the day we longed for; we have found it, we have seen it! 17 Our Father has done what he purposed; he has carried out his word which he commanded long ago. He has torn down without pity; he has let the enemy gloat over you and raised up the power of your foes. 18 Their heart cried out to the Sovereign Father. Wall of daughter Zion, let tears stream down like a torrent day and night! Give yourself no rest, your eyes no relief. 19 Arise, cry out in the night at the start of each night watch! Pour out your heart like water before the Sovereign Father! Lift your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint from hunger at every street corner. 20 Look, our Father, and consider: whom have you ever treated like this? Should women eat their offspring, the children they have cradled? Should priest and prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Sovereign Father? c c v20 The horror of the Babylonian siege; the lament hides nothing from our Father. 21 Young and old lie on the ground in the streets; my young women and my young men have fallen by the sword. You have killed them in the day of your anger, slaughtering without pity. 22 You summoned, as to a festival day, terrors on every side; and on the day of our Father's anger no one escaped or survived. My enemy has destroyed those I cradled and raised.