On the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month of the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Judah’s King Jehoiachin, Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, pardoned King Jehoiachin of Judah and released him from prison.

He spoke kindly to him and set his throne above the thrones of the kings who were with him in Babylon.

ד DaletThe roads to Zion mourn,
for no one comes to the appointed festivals.
All her gates are deserted;
her priests groan,
her young women grieve,
and she herself is bitter.

ה HeHer adversaries have become her masters;
her enemies are at ease,
for the Lord has made her suffer
because of her many transgressions.
Her children have gone away
as captives before the adversary.

ו VavAll her splendor has vanished
from Daughter Zion.
Her leaders are like stags
that find no pasture;
they walk away exhausted
before the hunter.

ז ZayinDuring the days of her affliction and homelessness
Jerusalem remembers all her precious belongings
that were hers in days of old.
When her people fell into the adversary’s hand,
she had no one to help.
The adversaries looked at her,
laughing over her downfall.

י YodThe adversary has seized
all her precious belongings.
She has even seen the nations
enter her sanctuary—
those You had forbidden
to enter Your assembly.

ע AyinI weep because of these things;
my eyes flow with tears.
For there is no one nearby to comfort me,
no one to keep me alive.
My children are desolate
because the enemy has prevailed.

שׁ ShinPeople have heard me groaning,
but there is no one to comfort me.
All my enemies have heard of my misfortune;
they are glad that You have caused it.
Bring on the day You have announced,
so that they may become like me.

ת TavLet all their wickedness come before You,
and deal with them
as You have dealt with me
because of all my transgressions.
For my groans are many,
and I am sick at heart.

ו VavHe has done violence to His temple
as if it were a garden booth,
destroying His place of meeting.
The Lord has abolished
appointed festivals and Sabbaths in Zion.
He has despised king and priest
in His fierce anger.

כ KafMy eyes are worn out from weeping;
I am churning within.
My heart is poured out in grief
because of the destruction of my dear people,
because children and infants faint
in the streets of the city.

ל LamedThey cry out to their mothers:
Where is the grain and wine?
as they faint like the wounded
in the streets of the city,
as their lives fade away
in the arms of their mothers.

מ MemWhat can I say on your behalf?
What can I compare you to, Daughter Jerusalem?
What can I liken you to,
so that I may console you, Virgin Daughter Zion?
For your ruin is as vast as the sea.
Who can heal you?

נ NunYour prophets saw visions for you
that were empty and deceptive;
they did not reveal your guilt
and so restore your fortunes.
They saw oracles for you
that were empty and misleading.

פ PeAll your enemies
open their mouths against you.
They hiss and gnash their teeth,
saying, “We have swallowed her up.
This is the day we have waited for!
We have lived to see it.”

ע AyinThe Lord has done what He planned;
He has accomplished His decree,
which He ordained in days of old.
He has demolished without compassion,
letting the enemy gloat over you
and exalting the horn of your adversaries.

צ TsadeThe hearts of the people cry out to the Lord.
Wall of Daughter Zion,
let your tears run down like a river
day and night.
Give yourself no relief
and your eyes no rest.

ק QofArise, cry out in the night
from the first watch of the night.
Pour out your heart like water
before the Lord’s presence.
Lift up your hands to Him
for the lives of your children
who are fainting from hunger
on the corner of every street.

שׁ ShinBoth young and old
are lying on the ground in the streets.
My young men and women
have fallen by the sword.
You have killed them in the day of Your anger,
slaughtering without compassion.

ת TavYou summoned my attackers on every side,
as if for an appointed festival day;
on the day of the Lord’s anger
no one escaped or survived.
My enemy has destroyed
those I nurtured and reared.

He strung His bow
and set me as the target for His arrow.

They are new every morning;
great is Your faithfulness!

For He does not enjoy bringing affliction
or suffering on mankind.

or suppressing a person’s lawsuit—
the Lord does not approve of these things.

נ NunLet us search out and examine our ways,
and turn back to the Lord.

Let us lift up our hearts and our hands
to God in heaven:

פ PeAll our enemies
open their mouths against us.

ק QofI called on Your name, Yahweh,
from the depths of the Pit.

You will give them a heart filled with anguish.
May Your curse be on them!

You will pursue them in anger and destroy them
under Your heavens.

ב BetZion’s precious people—
once worth their weight in pure gold—
how they are regarded as clay jars,
the work of a potter’s hands!

ה HeThose who used to eat delicacies
are destitute in the streets;
those who were reared in purple garments
huddle in garbage heaps.

ז ZayinHer dignitaries were brighter than snow,
whiter than milk;
their bodies were more ruddy than coral,
their appearance like sapphire.

ח KhetNow they appear darker than soot;
they are not recognized in the streets.
Their skin has shriveled on their bones;
it has become dry like wood.

ט TetThose slain by the sword are better off
than those slain by hunger,
who waste away, pierced with pain
because the fields lack produce.

ל LamedThe kings of the earth
and all the world’s inhabitants did not believe
that an enemy or adversary
could enter Jerusalem’s gates.

פ PeThe Lord Himself has scattered them;
He regards them no more.
The priests are not respected;
the elders find no favor.

ע AyinAll the while our eyes were failing
as we looked in vain for assistance;
we watched from our towers
for a nation that refused to help.

צ TsadeOur steps were closely followed
so that we could not walk in our streets.
Our end drew near; our time ran out.
Our end had come!

ק QofThose who chased us were swifter
than eagles in the sky;
they relentlessly pursued us over the mountains
and ambushed us in the wilderness.

ר ReshThe Lord’s anointed, the breath of our life,
was captured in their traps.
We had said about him,
“We will live under his protection among the nations.”

ת TavDaughter Zion, your punishment is complete;
He will not lengthen your exile.
But He will punish your iniquity, Daughter Edom,
and will expose your sins.

Yahweh, remember what has happened to us.
Look, and see our disgrace!

Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,
our houses to foreigners.

We have become orphans, fatherless;
our mothers are widows.

We must pay for the water we drink;
our wood comes at a price.

We are closely pursued;
we are tired, and no one offers us rest.

Our fathers sinned; they no longer exist,
but we bear their punishment.

We secure our food at the risk of our lives
because of the sword in the wilderness.

Our skin is as hot as an oven
from the ravages of hunger.

Women are raped in Zion,
girls in the cities of Judah.

Princes are hung up by their hands;
elders are shown no respect.

Joy has left our hearts;
our dancing has turned to mourning.

The crown has fallen from our head.
Woe to us, for we have sinned.

Because of this, our heart is sick;
because of these, our eyes grow dim:

You, Lord, are enthroned forever;
Your throne endures from generation to generation.

Why have You forgotten us forever,
abandoned us for our entire lives?

Lord, restore us to Yourself, so we may return;
renew our days as in former times,

unless You have completely rejected us
and are intensely angry with us.

In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, while I was among the exiles by the Chebar Canal, the heavens opened and I saw visions of God.

On the fifth day of the month—it was the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s exile—

Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the hooves of a calf, sparkling like the gleam of polished bronze.

Their wings were touching. The creatures did not turn as they moved; each one went straight ahead.

That is what their faces were like. Their wings were spread upward; each had two wings touching that of another and two wings covering its body.

The creatures were darting back and forth like flashes of lightning.

Their rims were large and frightening. Each of their four rims were full of eyes all around.

He said to me, “Son of man, stand up on your feet and I will speak with you.”

The children are obstinate and hardhearted. I am sending you to them, and you must say to them, ‘This is what the Lord God says.’

Whether they listen or refuse to listen—for they are a rebellious house—they will know that a prophet has been among them.

“But you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or their words, though briers and thorns are beside you and you live among scorpions. Don’t be afraid of their words or be discouraged by the look on their faces, for they are a rebellious house.

But speak My words to them whether they listen or refuse to listen, for they are rebellious.

“And you, son of man, listen to what I tell you: Do not be rebellious like that rebellious house. Open your mouth and eat what I am giving you.”

When He unrolled it before me, it was written on the front and back; words of lamentation, mourning, and woe were written on it.

“Son of man,” He said to me, “eat and fill your stomach with this scroll I am giving you.” So I ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth.

For you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible speech or difficult language but to the house of Israel.

You are not being sent to many peoples of unintelligible speech or difficult language, whose words you cannot understand. No doubt, if I sent you to them, they would listen to you.

Look, I have made your face as hard as their faces and your forehead as hard as their foreheads.

I have made your forehead like a diamond, harder than flint. Don’t be afraid of them or discouraged by the look on their faces, even though they are a rebellious house.”

Go to your people, the exiles, and speak to them. Tell them, ‘This is what the Lord God says,’ whether they listen or refuse to listen.”

I came to the exiles at Tel-abib, who were living by the Chebar Canal, and I sat there among them stunned for seven days.

But if you warn a wicked person and he does not turn from his wickedness or his wicked way, he will die for his iniquity, but you will have saved your life.

But if you warn the righteous person that he should not sin, and he does not sin, he will indeed live because he listened to your warning, and you will have saved your life.”

The Spirit entered me and set me on my feet. He spoke with me and said: “Go, shut yourself inside your house.

I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth, and you will be mute and unable to rebuke them, for they are a rebellious house.

But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you will say to them, ‘This is what the Lord God says.’ Let the one who listens, listen, and let the one who refuses, refuse—for they are a rebellious house.

Take an iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between yourself and the city. Turn your face toward it so that it is under siege, and besiege it. This will be a sign for the house of Israel.

“Then lie down on your left side and place the iniquity of the house of Israel on it. You will bear their iniquity for the number of days you lie on your side.

When you have completed these days, lie down again, but on your right side, and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah. I have assigned you 40 days, a day for each year.

You must turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared, and prophesy against it.

Be aware that I will put cords on you so you cannot turn from side to side until you have finished the days of your siege.

“Also take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt. Put them in a single container and make them into bread for yourself. You are to eat it during the number of days you lie on your side, 390 days.

You are also to drink water by measure, a sixth of a gallon, which you will drink from time to time.

The Lord said, “This is how the Israelites will eat their bread—ceremonially unclean—among the nations where I will banish them.”

But I said, “Oh, Lord God, I have never been defiled. From my youth until now I have not eaten anything that died naturally or was mauled by wild beasts. And impure meat has never entered my mouth.”

He replied to me, “Look, I will let you use cow dung instead of human excrement, and you can make your bread over that.”

“Now you, son of man, take a sharp sword, use it as you would a barber’s razor, and shave your head and beard. Then take a set of scales and divide the hair.

You are to burn up a third of it in the city when the days of the siege have ended; you are to take a third and slash it with the sword all around the city; and you are to scatter a third to the wind, for I will draw a sword to chase after them.

But you are to take a few strands from the hair and secure them in the folds of your robe.

“Therefore, this is what the Lord God says: Because you have been more insubordinate than the nations around you—you have not walked in My statutes or kept My ordinances; you have not even kept the ordinances of the nations around you—