7 “Lord, you are good, and goodness belongs to you! But shame belongs to us today. Shame belongs to the people from Judah and Jerusalem. Shame belongs to all the people of Israel—to the people that are near, and to the people that are far away. Lord, you scattered those people among many nations. And the people of Israel in all those nations should be ashamed. They should be ashamed of all the bad things they did against you, Lord.
7 O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee.
7 O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us confusion and shame of face, as at this day–to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, to those who are near and those who are far off, through all the countries to which You have driven them because of the [treacherous] trespass which they have committed against You.
7 O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of face, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee.
7 Righteousness belongs to you, my Lord! But we are ashamed this day—we, the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, all Israel whether near or far, in whatever country where you’ve driven them because of their unfaithfulness when they broke faith with you.
7 To you, O Lord, is justice, but to us is confusion of face, just as it is on this day for the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and all Israel, for those who are near and those who are far off, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of their iniquities by which they have sinned against you.
7 To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you.
The bad things that happened to us are our own fault. We have done evil things, and we have much guilt. But you, our God, have punished us much less than we should have been. We have done many terrible sins, and we should have been punished worse. And you have even let some of our people escape captivity.
Lord, God of Israel, you are good! And you still have let some of us live. Yes, we are guilty! And because of our guilt, not one of us should be allowed to stand in front of you.
God, spare me from the death penalty. {\cf2\super [304]} \par My God, you are the One who Saves me!\par Let me sing about the good things\par that you do for me!\par
I did the things you say are wrong.\par God, you are the One I sinned against.\par I confess these things so people will know\par I am wrong, and you are right.\par Your decisions are fair.\par
At that time, my Master (God) will again reach out and take his people that are left. This will be the second time God has done this. \{(These are God’s people that are left in countries like Assyria, North Egypt, South Egypt, Ethiopia, Elam, Babylonia, Hamath, and all the faraway countries around the world.)
Lord, if I argue with you,\par you are always right!\par But I want to ask you about some things that don’t seem right.\par Why are wicked people successful?\par Why do people you can’t trust have such easy lives?\par
In the time of that good ‘sprout,’\par the people of Judah will be saved.\par And Israel will live in safety.\par This will be his name:\par The Lord is our Goodness. {\cf2\super [182]} \par
“I will punish those people. The punishment will shock all the people on earth. People will make fun of those people from Judah. People will tell jokes about them. People will curse them in all the places where I scatter them.
Let us lie down in our shame.\par Let our shame cover us like a blanket.\par We have sinned against the Lord our God.\par We and our fathers have sinned.\par We have not obeyed the Lord our God\par
I will destroy Jerusalem because of all the evil things the people of Israel and Judah have done. The people, their kings, leaders, their priests and prophets, the men of Judah, and the people of Jerusalem have all made me angry.
The enemy has surrounded Jerusalem\par like men guarding a field.\par Judah, you turned against me!\par So the enemy is coming against you!”\par This message is from the Lord.\par
But I am not the one the people of Judah are really hurting.” This message is from the Lord. “They are only hurting themselves. They are bringing shame on themselves.”
You will remember the bad things you did. You will remember that those things were not good. Then you will hate yourselves because of your sins and the terrible things you did.”
People in Jerusalem will be so hungry that parents will eat their own children and children will eat their own parents. I will punish you in many ways. And the people that are left alive, I will scatter them to the winds.
The Lord kept the terrible things ready for us—and he made those things happen to us. The Lord did this because he is fair in everything he does. But we still have not listened to him.
My God, listen to me! Open your eyes and see all the terrible things that have happened to us! See what has happened to the city that is called by your name! I am not saying we are good people. That is not why I am asking these things. I am asking these things because I know you are kind.
“Lord, we should all be ashamed. All of our kings and leaders should be ashamed. Our ancestors {\cf2\super [100]} should be ashamed. Why? Because we sinned against you, Lord.
I am giving the command\par \{to destroy the nation Israel\}.\par I will scatter the people of Israel\par among all nations.\par But it will be like a person \{sifting flour\}.\par A person shakes flour through a sifter. {\cf2\super [117]} \par \{The good flour falls through,\}\par but the bad lumps are caught.\par \{It will be that way with Jacob’s family.\}\par