Lamentations 4

¹  How the gold has become dim!
    The most pure gold has changed!
The stones of the sanctuary are poured out
    at the head of every street.

² The precious sons of Zion,
    comparable to fine gold,
how they are esteemed as earthen pitchers,
    the work of the hands of the potter!

³ Even the jackals offer their breast.
    They nurse their young ones.
But the daughter of my people has become cruel,
    like the ostriches in the wilderness.

⁴ The tongue of the nursing child clings to the roof of his mouth for thirst.
    The young children ask bread,
    and no one breaks it for them.

⁵ Those who ate delicacies are desolate in the streets.
    Those who were brought up in purple embrace dunghills.

⁶ For the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the sin of Sodom,
    which was overthrown as in a moment.
    No hands were laid on her.

⁷ Her nobles were purer than snow.
    They were whiter than milk.
They were more ruddy in body than rubies.
    Their polishing was like sapphire.

⁸ Their appearance is blacker than a coal.
    They are not known in the streets.
Their skin clings to their bones.
    It is withered.
    It has become like a stick.

⁹ Those who are killed with the sword are better than those who are killed with hunger;
    For these pine away, stricken through,
    for lack of the fruits of the field.

¹⁰ The hands of the pitiful women have boiled their own children.
    They were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

¹¹ Yahweh has accomplished his wrath.
    He has poured out his fierce anger.
He has kindled a fire in Zion,
    which has devoured its foundations.

¹² The kings of the earth didn’t believe,
    neither did all the inhabitants of the world,
    that the adversary and the enemy would enter into the gates of Jerusalem.

¹³ It is because of the sins of her prophets
    and the iniquities of her priests,
    that have shed the blood of the just in the middle of her.

¹⁴ They wander as blind men in the streets.
    They are polluted with blood,
    So that men can’t touch their garments.

¹⁵ “Go away!” they cried to them.
    “Unclean! Go away! Go away! Don’t touch!
When they fled away and wandered, men said among the nations,
    “They can’t live here any more.”

¹⁶ Yahweh’s anger has scattered them.
    He will not pay attention to them any more.
They didn’t respect the persons of the priests.
    They didn’t favor the elders.

¹⁷ Our eyes still fail,
    looking in vain for our help.
    In our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save.

¹⁸ They hunt our steps,
    so that we can’t go in our streets.
Our end is near.
    Our days are fulfilled,
    for our end has come.

¹⁹ Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the sky.
    They chased us on the mountains.
    They set an ambush for us in the wilderness.

²⁰ The breath of our nostrils,
    the anointed of Yahweh,
    was taken in their pits;
of whom we said,
    under his shadow we will live among the nations.

²¹ Rejoice and be glad, daughter of Edom,
    who dwells in the land of Uz.
The cup will pass through to you also.
    You will be drunken,
    and will make yourself naked.

²² The punishment of your iniquity is accomplished, daughter of Zion.
    He will no more carry you away into captivity.
He will visit your iniquity, daughter of Edom.
    He will uncover your sins.

Lamentations 3   ■   Lamentations 5