Lamentations4

¹How dark the gold has become, How the pure gold has changed! The sacred stones are spilled out At the corner of every street.

²The precious sons of Zion, Weighed against pure gold, How they are regarded as earthenware jars, The work of a potter’s hands!

³Even jackals offer the breast, They nurse their young; But the daughter of my people has proved herself cruel, Like ostriches in the wilderness.

⁴The tongue of the infant clings To the roof of its mouth because of thirst; The children ask for bread, But no one breaks it for them.

⁵Those who used to eat delicacies Are made to tremble in the streets; Those who were raised in crimson clothing Embrace garbage heaps.

⁶For the wrongdoing of the daughter of my people Is greater than the sin of Sodom, Which was overthrown as in a moment, And no hands were turned toward her.

⁷Her consecrated ones were purer than snow, They shined more than milk; They were more ruddy in body than pearls of coral, Their form was like lapis lazuli.

⁸Their appearance is darker than soot, They are not recognized in the streets; Their skin is shriveled on their bones, It is dry, it has become like wood.

⁹Better off are those killed by the sword Than those killed by hunger; For they waste away, stricken By the lack of the produce of the field.

¹⁰The hands of compassionate women Boiled their own children; They became food for them Due to the destruction of the daughter of my people.

¹¹The Lord has expended His wrath, He has poured out His fierce anger; And He has kindled a fire in Zion, And it has consumed its foundations.

¹²The kings of the earth did not believe, Nor did any of the inhabitants of the world, That the adversary and the enemy Would enter the gates of Jerusalem.

¹³Because of the sins of her prophets And the wrongdoings of her priests, Who have shed in her midst The blood of the righteous,

¹⁴They wandered, blind, in the streets; They were defiled with blood, Such that no one could touch their garments.

¹⁵“Keep away! Unclean!” they cried out of themselves. “Keep away, keep away, do not touch!” For they distanced themselves as well as wandered; People among the nations said, “They shall not continue to reside with us.”

¹⁶The presence of the Lord has scattered them, He will not continue to look at them; They did not honor the priests, They did not favor the elders.

¹⁷Yet our eyes failed, Looking for help was useless; At our observation point we have watched For a nation that could not save.

¹⁸They hunted our steps So that we could not walk in our streets; Our end drew near, Our days were finished For our end had come.

¹⁹Our pursuers were swifter Than the eagles of the sky; They chased us on the mountains, They waited in ambush for us in the wilderness.

²⁰The breath of our nostrils, the Lord’s anointed, Was captured in their pits, Of whom we had said, “In his shadow We shall live among the nations.”

²¹Rejoice and be joyful, daughter of Edom, Who lives in the land of Uz; But the cup will pass to you as well, You will become drunk and expose yourself.

²²The punishment of your wrongdoing has been completed, daughter of Zion; He will no longer exile you. But He will punish your wrongdoing, daughter of Edom; He will expose your sins!