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Her filthiness clung to her skirts; she did not consider her future. Her fall was astounding; there was none to comfort her. “Look, Lord, on my affliction, for the enemy has triumphed.”
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“Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look around and see. Is any suffering like my suffering that was inflicted on me, that the Lord brought on me in the day of his fierce anger?
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How the Lord has covered Daughter Zion with the cloud of his anger! He has hurled down the splendor of Israel from heaven to earth; he has not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger.
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The Lord determined to tear down the wall around Daughter Zion. He stretched out a measuring line and did not withhold his hand from destroying. He made ramparts and walls lament; together they wasted away.
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The visions of your prophets were false and worthless; they did not expose your sin to ward off your captivity. The prophecies they gave you were false and misleading.
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Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
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For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone.
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to deprive them of justice— would not the Lord see such things?
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Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it?
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Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?
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“We have sinned and rebelled and you have not forgiven.
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You heard my plea: “Do not close your ears to my cry for relief.”
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You came near when I called you, and you said, “Do not fear.”
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But now they are blacker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones; it has become as dry as a stick.
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The kings of the earth did not believe, nor did any of the peoples of the world, that enemies and foes could enter the gates of Jerusalem.
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Now they grope through the streets as if they were blind. They are so defiled with blood that no one dares to touch their garments.
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“Go away! You are unclean!” people cry to them. “Away! Away! Don’t touch us!” When they flee and wander about, people among the nations say, “They can stay here no longer.”
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Moreover, our eyes failed, looking in vain for help; from our towers we watched for a nation that could not save us.
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People stalked us at every step, so we could not walk in our streets. Our end was near, our days were numbered, for our end had come.
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The Lord’s anointed, our very life breath, was caught in their traps. We thought that under his shadow we would live among the nations.
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Your punishment will end, Daughter Zion; he will not prolong your exile. But he will punish your sin, Daughter Edom, and expose your wickedness.
