¹ Gedenk, HEERE, wat ons geschied is, aanschouw het, en zie onzen smaad aan.

² Ons erfdeel is tot de vreemdelingen gewend, onze huizen tot de uitlanders.

³ Wij zijn wezen zonder vader, onze moeders zijn als de weduwen.

⁴ Ons water moeten wij voor geld drinken; Ons hout komt Ons op prijs te staan.

⁵ Wij lijden vervolging op onze halzen; zijn wij woede, men laat ons geen rust.

⁶ Wij hebben den Egyptenaar de hand gegeven, en den Assyrier, om met brood verzadigd te worden.

⁷ Onze vaders hebben gezondigd, en zijn niet meer, en wij dragen hun ongerechtigheden.

⁸ Knechten heersen over ons; er is niemand, die ons uit hun hand rukke.

⁹ Wij moeten ons brood met gevaar onzes levens halen, vanwege het zwaard der woestijn.

¹⁰ Onze huid is zwart geworden gelijk een oven, vanwege den geweldigen storm des hongers.

¹¹ Zij hebben de vrouwen te Sion verkracht, en de jonge dochters in de steden van Juda.

¹² De vorsten zijn door hunlieder hand opgehangen; de aangezichten der ouden zijn niet geeerd geweest.

¹³ Zij hebben de jongelingen weggenomen, om te malen, en de jongens struikelen onder het hout.

¹⁴ De ouden houden op van de poort, de jongelingen van hun snarenspel.

¹⁵ De vreugde onzes harten houdt op, onze rei is in treurigheid veranderd.

¹⁶ De kroon onzes hoofds is afgevallen; o wee nu onzer, dat wij zo gezondigd hebben!

¹⁷ Daarom is ons hart mat, om deze dingen zijn onze ogen duister geworden.

¹⁸ Om des bergs Sions wil, die verwoest is, waar de vossen op lopen.

¹⁹ Gij, o HEERE, zit in eeuwigheid, Uw troon is van geslacht tot geslacht.

²⁰ Waarom zoudt Gij ons steeds vergeten? Waarom zoudt Gij ons zo langen tijd verlaten?

²¹ HEERE, bekeer ons tot U, zo zullen wij bekeerd zijn; vernieuw onze dagen als van ouds.

²² Want zoudt Gij ons ganselijk verwerpen? Zoudt Gij zozeer tegen ons verbolgen zijn?

⁸ Want Jeruzalem heeft aangestoten, en Juda is gevallen, dewijl hun tong en handelingen tegen den HEERE zijn, om de ogen Zijner heerlijkheid te verbitteren.

¹ "If you will return, Israel," says Yahweh, "if you will return to me, and if you will put away your abominations out of my sight; then you shall not be removed;

² and you shall swear, 'As Yahweh lives,' in truth, in justice, and in righteousness. The nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory."

³ For thus says Yahweh to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, "Break up your fallow ground, and don't sow among thorns.

⁴ Circumcise yourselves to Yahweh, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn so that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

⁵ Declare in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, 'Blow the trumpet in the land!' Cry aloud and say, 'Assemble yourselves! Let us go into the fortified cities!'

⁶ Set up a standard toward Zion. Flee for safety! Don't wait; for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction."

⁷ A lion is gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations; he is on his way, he is gone forth from his place, to make your land desolate, that your cities be laid waste, without inhabitant.

⁸ For this clothe yourself with sackcloth, lament and wail; for the fierce anger of Yahweh hasn't turned back from us.

⁹ "It shall happen at that day," says Yahweh, "that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder."

¹⁰ Then I said, "Ah, Lord Yahweh! Surely you have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, 'You shall have peace;' whereas the sword reaches to the heart."

¹¹ At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, "A hot wind from the bare heights in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow, nor to cleanse;

¹² a full wind from these shall come for me. Now I will also utter judgments against them."

¹³ Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots [shall be] as the whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us! For we are ruined.

¹⁴ Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long shall your evil thoughts lodge within you?

¹⁵ For a voice declares from Dan, and publishes evil from the hills of Ephraim:

¹⁶ "Tell the nations; behold, publish against Jerusalem, 'Watchers come from a far country, and raise their voice against the cities of Judah.

¹⁷ As keepers of a field, they are against her all around, because she has been rebellious against me,'" says Yahweh.

¹⁸ "Your way and your doings have brought these things to you. This is your wickedness; for it is bitter, for it reaches to your heart."

¹⁹ My anguish, my anguish! I am pained at my very heart; my heart is disquieted in me; I can't hold my peace; because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.

²⁰ Destruction on destruction is cried; for the whole land is laid waste: suddenly are my tents destroyed, [and] my curtains in a moment.

²¹ How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?

²² "For my people are foolish, they don't know me. They are foolish children, and they have no understanding. They are skillful in doing evil, but to do good they have no knowledge."

²³ I saw the earth, and, behold, it was waste and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.

²⁴ I saw the mountains, and behold, they trembled, and all the hills moved back and forth.

²⁵ I saw, and behold, there was no man, and all the birds of the sky had fled.

²⁶ I saw, and behold, the fruitful field was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of Yahweh, [and] before his fierce anger.

²⁷ For thus says Yahweh, "The whole land shall be a desolation; yet will I not make a full end.

²⁸ For this the earth will mourn, and the heavens above be black; because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and I have not repented, neither will I turn back from it."

²⁹ Every city flees for the noise of the horsemen and archers; they go into the thickets, and climb up on the rocks: every city is forsaken, and not a man dwells therein.

³⁰ You, when you are made desolate, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself with scarlet, though you deck you with ornaments of gold, though you enlarge your eyes with paint, in vain do you make yourself beautiful; [your] lovers despise you, they seek your life.

³¹ For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, the anguish as of her who brings forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, who gasps for breath, who spreads her hands, [saying], "Woe is me now! For my soul faints before the murderers."