The prophet speaks
1Why did this happen?
The Lord was angry and
He made it dark over Jerusalem.
The Israelites were proud of their city,
but the Lord threw the city down
from heaven to the earth.
He did not think about his temple
on that day when He became angry.
2The Lord did not feel sorry for them.
He destroyed all the homes
of the people of Jacob.
He broke down the cities of Judah,
the cities that had strong walls.
He humiliated the king and his officials,
and they fell very hard to the ground.
3He was very angry.
He caused all the strong people in Israel to die.
He did not help them against their enemies.
It was like a fire that burnt down everything.
4The Lord was like an enemy
who made his bow_and_arrow
ready to shoot.
He killed everyone who was beautiful.
He killed them in their homes
in Jerusalem with his strong arm.
He became angry like a burning fire.
5The Lord was like an enemy,
and He destroyed the people of Israel.
He destroyed all the beautiful homes,
He broke down the strong walls,
and He made a lot of people in Judah cry and mourn.
6He trampled his temple, his home,
like people trample a garden.
He destroyed the place
where He appeared to his people.
He made the people forget the feasts
and Sabbath days that they celebrated in Zion.
He was angry,
and He humiliated the king and the priests.
7The Lord did not want his altar
and his temple anymore.
He gave the walls of the city
and the beautiful homes
to the enemies to break them down.
They went into the temple
and stood there and shouted
like people at a feast.
8The Lord decided to break down
the walls of Jerusalem.
He measured the walls and
He did not stop breaking them down.
He made the towers and walls fall down,
and they lie down together on the ground.
9The gates of the city have fallen down
because the Lord has broken
the locks of the gates.
The enemies have taken away the king
and his officials to other lands.
There are no more priests
who can tell the people
what the Lord wants
and the Lord does not tell the prophets
what they must say.
10The leaders of Jerusalem
are sitting on the ground,
and they don't say a word. They are quiet.
They have thrown sand on their heads
and they have put on sack-cloth.
The young girls of Jerusalem
bow down their heads to the ground.
11I am tired because I have cried a lot,
and everything inside me hurts.
It feels as if my liver is going to fall
on the ground because the Lord
has broken my people and destroyed them.
Children and babies faint
on the market places in the city.
12They ask their mothers:
‘Where can we get bread and wine?’
But then they fall down like people
who are dead on the market places
of the city or they die
while they are drinking milk
from their mothers' breasts.
13Jerusalem, what can I say
to comfort you?
Zion, who is suffering as much as you?
What can I do to help you
or to make it easier for you?
Your suffering is as wide as the sea.
Who can help you or heal you?
14Your prophets have said that
they have seen visions from the Lord,
but they have told lies,
and they have deceived you.
They did not tell you to stop your sins,
and they did not tell you to turn to God
and live as He wants so that
things could be better for you.
They said the Lord had told them things,
but they were telling lies,
and they deceived you.
15Everyone who walks past laughs at you.
They are happy because you are sad.
They whistle and show that
they are happy because of
what has happened to Jerusalem.
They ask: ‘Is this the city that was
the most beautiful of all cities?
Is this the city that made everyone
in the world happy?’
16All your enemies are boasting
about what they did to you.
They whistle and bite hard on their teeth
to mock you. They say:
‘We have destroyed Jerusalem.
We waited for this day
and the day has come and we have seen it.’
17The Lord has done
what He wanted to do.
He made everything happen
that He said long ago.
He destroyed the city,
and He did not feel sorry for it.
He made your enemies happy
when they saw what had happened to you.
He made your enemies strong.
18Jerusalem, your walls shouted
and asked the Lord to help them.
Your tears have flowed like a river,
every day and night.
Do not rest, and do not stop crying.
19You must get up, and keep on crying at night.
Pray every time
the new guards go to the wall
and tell the Lord how you feel.
Hold out your hands to Him.
Pray that He will let your children stay alive,
and that He will help
your children who are fainting
all over the streets because they are hungry.
20Lord, please look what You have done
and to whom you have done it.
Do you want mothers to eat their own children?
Do you want the enemies to kill the priests
and the prophets in the temple?
21Young and old men
are lying dead in the streets.
Our young girls and our young men
have died in war.
You caused them to die when You were angry.
You killed them,
and You did not feel sorry for them.
22You called the enemies
to come from all over.
You called them like
You call people to come and celebrate.
When the day_of_the_Lord came,
no one could escape and run away.
Our enemies killed everyone
who was born and grew up here.
