Lamentations 4:20-22
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
20 The Lord’s anointed—our very lifebreath!—[a]
was caught in their snares,
He in whose shade we thought
to live among the nations.(A)
21 Rejoice and gloat, daughter Edom,
dwelling in the land of Uz,[b]
The cup will pass to you as well;
you shall become drunk and strip yourself naked!(B)
22 Your punishment is completed, daughter Zion,
the Lord will not prolong your exile;
The Lord will punish your iniquity, daughter Edom,
will lay bare your sins.(C)
Footnotes
- 4:20 Our very lifebreath: lit., “the breath of our nostrils,” that is, the king. This expression occurs in Egyptian texts of the late second millennium B.C., and may have survived as a royal epithet in the Jerusalem court. After the disaster of 598 B.C. (2 Kgs 24:1–17), Jerusalem could have hoped to live in peace amidst her neighbors; but they (vv. 21–22) as well as Babylon turned against her to ensure her total devastation in 587 B.C.
- 4:21 Rejoice: the address is sarcastic, since Edom (where Uz may have been located) ravaged the land after the fall of Jerusalem (cf. Ps 137).
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