Lamentations 4

The Distress of Zion

¹ How^a the gold has become tarnished,

the pure gold has become dull!

The gems of the temple lie scattered

on every street corner.

² How the precious sons of Zion,

once worth their weight in pure gold,

are now esteemed as jars of clay,

the work of a potter’s hands!

³ Even jackals^b offer their breasts

to nurse their young,

but the daughter of my people has become cruel,

like an ostrich in the wilderness.

⁴ The nursing infant’s tongue

clings in thirst to the roof of his mouth.

Little children beg for bread,

but no one gives them any.

⁵ Those who once ate delicacies

are destitute in the streets;

those brought up in crimson

huddle in ash heaps.

⁶ The punishment^c of the daughter of my people

is greater than that of Sodom,

which was overthrown in an instant

without a hand turned to help her.

⁷ Her dignitaries were brighter than snow,

whiter than milk;

their bodies were more ruddy than rubies,

their appearance^d like sapphires.^e

⁸ But now their appearance is blacker than soot;

they are not recognized in the streets.

Their skin has shriveled on their bones;

it has become as dry as a stick.

⁹ Those slain by the sword are better off

than those who die of hunger,

who waste away, pierced with pain

because the fields lack produce.

¹⁰ The hands of compassionate women

have cooked their own children,

who became their food

in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

¹¹ The LORD has exhausted His wrath;

He has poured out His fierce anger;

He has kindled a fire in Zion,

and it has consumed her foundations.

¹² The kings of the earth did not believe,

nor any people of the world,

that an enemy or a foe

could enter the gates of Jerusalem.

¹³ But this was for the sins of her prophets

and the guilt of her priests,

who shed the blood of the righteous

in her midst.

¹⁴ They wandered blind in the streets,

defiled by this blood,

so that no one dared

to touch their garments.

¹⁵ “Go away! Unclean!”

men shouted at them.

“Away, away! Do not touch us!”

So they fled and wandered.

Among the nations it was said,

“They can stay here no longer.”

¹⁶ The presence of the LORD has scattered them;

He regards them no more.

The priests are shown no honor;

the elders find no favor.

¹⁷ All the while our eyes were failing

as we looked in vain for help.

We watched from our towers

for a nation that could not save us.

¹⁸ They stalked our every step,

so that we could not walk in our streets.

Our end drew near, our time ran out,

for our end had come!

¹⁹ Those who chased us were swifter

than the eagles in the sky;

they pursued us over the mountains

and ambushed us in the wilderness.

²⁰ The LORD’s anointed, the breath of our life,

was captured in their pits.

We had said of him,

“Under his shadow we will live among the nations.”

²¹ So rejoice and be glad, O Daughter of Edom,

you who dwell in the land of Uz.

Yet the cup will pass to you as well;

you will get drunk and expose yourself.

²² O Daughter of Zion, your punishment is complete;

He will not prolong your exile.^f

But He will punish your iniquity, O Daughter of Edom;

He will expose your sins.