Lam 2:11-22, 4:1-13, Mal 2:2, 4:6 | ESV | STEP | My eyes are spent with weeping ; my stomach churns ; my bile is poured out to the ground because of the destruction of the daughter of my people , because infants and babies faint in the streets of the city .

11 ^aMy eyes are spent with weeping;
^bmy stomach churns;
^cmy bile is poured out to the ground
^dbecause of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
^ebecause infants and babies ^ffaint
in the streets of the city.
12 They cry to their mothers,
^g“Where is bread and wine?”
^has they faint like a wounded man
in the streets of the city,
as their life is poured out
on their mothers’ bosom.
13 What can I say for you, ⁱto what compare you,
O daughter of Jerusalem?
^jWhat can I liken to you, that I may comfort you,
O virgin daughter of Zion?
^kFor your ruin is vast as the sea;
who can heal you?
14 ^lYour prophets have seen for you
false and deceptive visions;
^mthey have not exposed your iniquity
to ⁿrestore your fortunes,
^obut have seen for you ^poracles
that are false and misleading.
15 All who pass along the way
clap their hands at you;
^qthey hiss and wag their heads
at the daughter of Jerusalem:
“Is this the city that was called
^rthe perfection of beauty,
^sthe joy of all the earth?”
16 ^tAll your enemies
rail against you;
they hiss, they gnash their teeth,
they cry: “We ^uhave swallowed her!
Ah, this is the day we longed for;
now we have it; ^vwe see it!”
17 The Lord has done what he purposed;
he has carried out ^whis word,
which he commanded ^xlong ago;
^yhe has thrown down ^zwithout pity;
^aahe has made the enemy rejoice over you
and exalted the ^abmight of your foes.
18 Their heart cried to the Lord.
O ^acwall of the daughter of Zion,
^adlet tears stream down like a torrent
^aeday and night!
^afGive yourself no rest,
^agyour eyes no respite!
19 “Arise, ^ahcry out in the night,
at the beginning of the night watches!
^aiPour out your heart like water
before the presence of the Lord!
^ajLift your hands to him
for the lives of your children,
^akwho faint for hunger
at the head of every street.”
20 Look, O Lord, and see!
^alWith whom have you dealt thus?
^amShould women eat the fruit of their womb,
the children of ^antheir tender care?
Should ^aopriest and prophet be killed
in the sanctuary of the Lord?
21 In the dust of the streets
^aplie the young and the old;
^aqmy young women and my young men
have fallen by the sword;
^aryou have killed them in the day of your anger,
slaughtering ^aswithout pity.
22 You summoned as if to ^ata festival day
^aumy terrors on every side,
^avand on the day of the anger of the Lord
no one escaped or survived;
^awthose whom I held and raised
my enemy destroyed.

Lamentations 4:1-13

The Holy Stones Lie Scattered

1 ^axHow the gold has grown dim,
how the pure gold is changed!
The holy stones lie scattered
^ayat the head of every street.
2 The precious sons of Zion,
worth their weight in ^azfine gold,
how they are regarded as ^baearthen pots,
the work of a potter’s hands!
3 Even jackals offer the breast;
they nurse their young;
but the daughter of my people has become cruel,
like the ostriches in the wilderness.
4 The tongue of the nursing infant ^bbsticks
to the roof of its mouth for thirst;
^bcthe children beg for food,
but no one gives to them.
5 Those who once feasted on delicacies
perish in the streets;
^bdthose who were brought up in purple
embrace ash heaps.
6 ^beFor the chastisement ^{▼▼Or iniquity} of the daughter of my people has been greater
than the punishment ^{▼▼Or sin} of Sodom,
^bhwhich was overthrown in a moment,
and no hands were wrung for her. ^{▼▼The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain}
7 Her princes were purer than snow,
whiter than milk;
their bodies were more ruddy than coral,
the beauty of their form ^{▼▼The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain} was like sapphire. ^{▼▼Hebrew lapis lazuli}
8 ^blNow their face is blacker than soot;
they are not recognized in the streets;
their skin has shriveled on their bones;
it has become as dry as wood.
9 Happier were the victims of the sword
than the victims of hunger,
who wasted away, pierced
by lack of the fruits of the field.
10 ^bmThe hands of ^bncompassionate women
^bohave boiled their own children;
^bpthey became their food
during the destruction of the daughter of my people.
11 ^bqThe Lord gave full vent to his wrath;
he poured out his hot anger,
and ^brhe kindled a fire in Zion
that consumed its foundations.
12 ^bsThe kings of the earth did not believe,
nor any of the inhabitants of the world,
that foe or enemy could enter
the gates of Jerusalem.
13 This was for ^btthe sins of her prophets
and ^buthe iniquities of her priests,
who shed in the midst of her
the blood of the righteous.

Malachi 2:2

2 ^bvIf you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will send ^bwthe curse upon you and I will curse ^bxyour blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart.

Malachi 4:6

6 And he will ^byturn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and ^bzstrike the land with a decree of utter destruction.” ^{▼▼The Hebrew term rendered decree of utter destruction refers to things devoted (or set apart) to the Lord (or by the Lord) for destruction}