Lamentations 4

¹How the gold has grown dim , how the pure gold is changed ! The holy stones lie scattered at the head of every street .

²The precious sons of Zion , worth their weight in fine gold , how they are regarded as earthen pots , the work of a potter’s hands !

³Even jackals offer the breast ; they nurse their young , but the daughter of my people has become cruel , like the ostriches in the wilderness .

⁴The tongue of the nursing infant sticks to the roof of its mouth for thirst ; the children beg for food , but no one gives to them.

⁵Those who once feasted on delicacies perish in the streets ; those who were brought up in purple embrace ash heaps .

⁶For the chastisement of the daughter of my people has been greater than the punishment of Sodom , which was overthrown in a moment , and no hands were wrung for her.

⁷Her princes were purer than snow , whiter than milk ; their bodies were more ruddy than coral , the beauty of their form was like sapphire .

⁸Now their face is blacker than soot ; they are not recognized in the streets ; their skin has shriveled on their bones ; it has become as dry as wood .

⁹Happier were the victims of the sword than the victims of hunger , who wasted away , pierced by lack of the fruits of the field .

¹⁰The hands of compassionate women have boiled their own children ; they became their food during the destruction of the daughter of my people .

¹¹The Lord gave full vent to his wrath ; he poured out his hot anger , and he kindled a fire in Zion that consumed its foundations .

¹²The kings of the earth did not believe , nor any of the inhabitants of the world , that foe or enemy could enter the gates of Jerusalem .

¹³This was for the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests , who shed in the midst of her the blood of the righteous .

¹⁴They wandered , blind , through the streets ; they were so defiled with blood that no one was able to touch their garments .

¹⁵Away ! Unclean ! people cried at them. Away ! Away ! Do not touch ! So they became fugitives and wanderers ; people said among the nations , They shall stay with us no longer .

¹⁶The Lord himself has scattered them; he will regard them no more ; no honor was shown to the priests , no favor to the elders .

¹⁷Our eyes failed , ever watching vainly for help ; in our watching we watched for a nation which could not save .

¹⁸They dogged our steps so that we could not walk in our streets ; our end drew near ; our days were numbered , for our end had come .

¹⁹Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles in the heavens ; they chased us on the mountains ; they lay in wait for us in the wilderness .

²⁰The breath of our nostrils , the Lord ’s anointed , was captured in their pits , of whom we said , Under his shadow we shall live among the nations .

²¹Rejoice and be glad , O daughter of Edom , you who dwell in the land of Uz ; but to you also the cup shall pass ; you shall become drunk and strip yourself bare .

²²The punishment of your iniquity , O daughter of Zion , is accomplished ; he will keep you in exile no longer ; but your iniquity , O daughter of Edom , he will punish ; he will uncover your sins .