2Oh, oh, oh . . . How the Master has cut down Daughter Zion from the skies, dashed Israel's glorious city to earth, in his anger treated his favorite as throwaway junk.H136H5743H1323H6726H5743H639H7993H8064H776H8597H3478H2142H1916H7272H3117H639 2The Master, without a second thought, took Israel in one gulp. Raging, he smashed Judah's defenses, made hash of her king and princes.H136H1104H4999H3290H2550H2040H5678H4013H1323H3063H5060H776H2490H4467H8269 3His anger blazing, he knocked Israel flat, broke Israel's arm and turned his back just as the enemy approached, came on Jacob like a wildfire from every direction.H1438H2750H639H7161H3478H7725H268H3225H6440H341H1197H3290H3852H784H398H5439 4Like an enemy, he aimed his bow, bared his sword, and killed our young men, our pride and joy. His anger, like fire, burned down the homes in Zion.H1869H7198H341H5324H3225H6862H2026H4261H5869H168H1323H6726H8210H2534H784 5The Master became the enemy. He had Israel for supper. He chewed up and spit out all the defenses. He left Daughter Judah moaning and groaning.H136H341H1104H3478H1104H759H7843H4013H7235H1323H3063H8386H592 6He plowed up his old trysting place, trashed his favorite rendezvous. GOD wiped out Zion's memories of feast days and Sabbaths, angrily sacked king and priest alike.H2554H7900H1588H7843H4150H3068H4150H7676H7911H6726H5006H2195H639H4428H3548 7GOD abandoned his altar, walked away from his holy Temple and turned the fortifications over to the enemy. As they cheered in GOD's Temple, you'd have thought it was a feast day!H136H2186H4196H5010H4720H5462H3027H341H2346H759H5414H6963H1004H3068H3117H4150 8GOD drew up plans to tear down the walls of Daughter Zion. He assembled his crew, set to work and went at it. Total demolition! The stones wept!H3068H2803H7843H2346H1323H6726H5186H6957H7725H3027H1104H2426H2346H56H535H3162 9Her city gates, iron bars and all, disappeared in the rubble: her kings and princes off to exile—no one left to instruct or lead; her prophets useless—they neither saw nor heard anything from GOD.H8179H2883H776H6H7665H1280H4428H8269H1471H8451H5030H4672H2377H3068 10The elders of Daughter Zion sit silent on the ground. They throw dust on their heads, dress in rough penitential burlap— the young virgins of Jerusalem, their faces creased with the dirt.H2205H1323H6726H3427H776H1826H5927H6083H7218H2296H8242H1330H3389H3381H7218H776 11My eyes are blind with tears, my stomach in a knot. My insides have turned to jelly over my people's fate. Babies and children are fainting all over the place,H5869H3615H1832H4578H2560H3516H8210H776H7667H1323H5971H5768H3243H5848H7339H7151 12Calling to their mothers, "I'm hungry! I'm thirsty!" then fainting like dying soldiers in the streets, breathing their last in their mothers' laps.H559H517H1715H3196H5848H2491H7339H5892H5315H8210H517H2436 13How can I understand your plight, dear Jerusalem? What can I say to give you comfort, dear Zion? Who can put you together again? This bust-up is past understanding.H5749H5749H4100H1819H1323H3389H7737H5162H1330H1323H6726H7667H1419H3220H7495 14Your prophets courted you with sweet talk. They didn't face you with your sin so that you could repent. Their sermons were all wishful thinking, deceptive illusions.H5030H2372H7723H8602H1540H5771H7725H7622H7622H2372H7723H4864H4065 15Astonished, passersby can't believe what they see. They rub their eyes, they shake their heads over Jerusalem. Is this the city voted "Most Beautiful" and "Best Place to Live"?H5674H5606H3709H1870H8319H5128H7218H1323H3389H5892H559H3632H3308H4885H776 16But now your enemies gape, slack-jawed. Then they rub their hands in glee: "We've got them! We've been waiting for this! Here it is!"H341H6475H6310H8319H2786H8127H559H1104H389H3117H6960H4672H7200 17GOD did carry out, item by item, exactly what he said he'd do. He always said he'd do this. Now he's done it—torn the place down. He's let your enemies walk all over you, declared them world champions!H3068H6213H2161H1214H565H6680H3117H6924H2040H2550H341H8055H7311H7161H6862 18Give out heart-cries to the Master, dear repentant Zion. Let the tears roll like a river, day and night, and keep at it—no time-outs. Keep those tears flowing!H3820H6817H136H2346H1323H6726H1832H3381H5158H3119H3915H5414H6314H1323H5869H1826 19As each night watch begins, get up and cry out in prayer. Pour your heart out face to face with the Master. Lift high your hands. Beg for the lives of your children who are starving to death out on the streets.H6965H7442H3915H7218H821H8210H3820H4325H5227H6440H136H5375H3709H5315H5768H5848H7458H7218H2351 20"Look at us, GOD. Think it over. Have you ever treated anyone like this? Should women eat their own babies, the very children they raised? Should priests and prophets be murdered in the Master's own Sanctuary?H7200H3068H5027H5953H3541H802H398H6529H5768H2949H3548H5030H2026H4720H136 21"Boys and old men lie in the gutters of the streets, my young men and women killed in their prime. Angry, you killed them in cold blood, cut them down without mercy.H5288H2205H7901H776H2351H1330H970H5307H2719H2026H3117H639H2873H2550 22"You invited, like friends to a party, men to swoop down in attack so that on the big day of GOD's wrath no one would get away. The children I loved and reared—gone, gone, gone."H7121H4150H3117H4032H5439H3117H3068H639H6412H8300H2946H7235H341H3615
The Message (MSG). All Scripture quotations are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries.
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