Oy , bloody city! Full of deceit, full of plunder. The prey never departs.
Oy to him who builds a city by bloodshed, and establishes a town with injustice!
Curse, deceive, murder, steal, commit adultery! They practice violence, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.
Where is the lions’ den, the feeding place for young lions— where the lion went for a lion’s cub— with nothing to disturb them?
Who gave Jacob to the looter, Israel to the plunderers? Was it not Adonai? Have we not sinned against Him? In His ways they were unwilling to walk and His Torah they did not obey.
At evening time—sudden terror! Before morning, they are no more. This is the reward of those who plunder us and the lot of those who pillage us.
They no longer drink wine with song. Liquor is bitter to those drinking it.
Sons of Adam are a vapor, sons of man are an illusion. In balanced scales they go up— altogether they are less than a breath.
The lion rips enough for his cubs, strangles prey for his lionesses. Yes, he fills his den with prey, his lair with torn flesh.