| Berean Study Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1How the gold has become tarnished, the pure gold has become dull! The gems of the temple lie scattered on every street corner. | 1How the gold has lost its luster! Even the finest gold has become dull. The sacred gemstones lie scattered in the streets! |
| 2How 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! | 2See how the precious children of Jerusalem, worth their weight in fine gold, are now treated like pots of clay made by a common potter. |
| 3Even jackals offer their breasts to nurse their young, but the daughter of my people has become cruel, like an ostrich in the wilderness. | 3Even the jackals feed their young, but not my people Israel. They ignore their children’s cries, like ostriches in the desert. |
| 4The nursing infant’s tongue clings in thirst to the roof of his mouth. Little children beg for bread, but no one gives them any. | 4The parched tongues of their little ones stick to the roofs of their mouths in thirst. The children cry for bread, but no one has any to give them. |
| 5Those who once ate delicacies are destitute in the streets; those brought up in crimson huddle in ash heaps. | 5The people who once ate the richest foods now beg in the streets for anything they can get. Those who once wore the finest clothes now search the garbage dumps for food. |
| 6The punishment 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. | 6The guilt of my people is greater than that of Sodom, where utter disaster struck in a moment and no hand offered help. |
| 7Her dignitaries were brighter than snow, whiter than milk; their bodies were more ruddy than rubies, their appearance like sapphires. | 7Our princes once glowed with health— brighter than snow, whiter than milk. Their faces were as ruddy as rubies, their appearance like fine jewels. |
| 8But 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. | 8But now their faces are blacker than soot. No one recognizes them in the streets. Their skin sticks to their bones; it is as dry and hard as wood. |
| 9Those slain by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger, who waste away, pierced with pain because the fields lack produce. | 9Those killed by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger. Starving, they waste away for lack of food from the fields. |
| 10The hands of compassionate women have cooked their own children, who became their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people. | 10Tenderhearted women have cooked their own children. They have eaten them to survive the siege. |
| 11The 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. | 11But now the anger of the LORD is satisfied. His fierce anger has been poured out. He started a fire in Jerusalem that burned the city to its foundations. |
| 12The 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. | 12Not a king in all the earth— no one in all the world— would have believed that an enemy could march through the gates of Jerusalem. |
| 13But this was for the sins of her prophets and the guilt of her priests, who shed the blood of the righteous in her midst. | 13Yet it happened because of the sins of her prophets and the sins of her priests, who defiled the city by shedding innocent blood. |
| 14They wandered blind in the streets, defiled by this blood, so that no one dared to touch their garments. | 14They wandered blindly through the streets, so defiled by blood that no one dared touch them. |
| 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.” | 15“Get away!” the people shouted at them. “You’re defiled! Don’t touch us!” So they fled to distant lands and wandered among foreign nations, but none would let them stay. |
| 16The presence of the LORD has scattered them; He regards them no more. The priests are shown no honor; the elders find no favor. | 16The LORD himself has scattered them, and he no longer helps them. People show no respect for the priests and no longer honor the leaders. |
| 17All 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. | 17We looked in vain for our allies to come and save us, but we were looking to nations that could not help us. |
| 18They 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! | 18We couldn’t go into the streets without danger to our lives. Our end was near; our days were numbered. We were doomed! |
| 19Those who chased us were swifter than the eagles in the sky; they pursued us over the mountains and ambushed us in the wilderness. | 19Our enemies were swifter than eagles in flight. If we fled to the mountains, they found us. If we hid in the wilderness, they were waiting for us there. |
| 20The 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.” | 20Our king—the LORD’s anointed, the very life of our nation— was caught in their snares. We had thought that his shadow would protect us against any nation on earth! |
| 21So 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. | 21Are you rejoicing in the land of Uz, O people of Edom? But you, too, must drink from the cup of the LORD’s anger. You, too, will be stripped naked in your drunkenness. |
| 22O Daughter of Zion, your punishment is complete; He will not prolong your exile. But He will punish your iniquity, O Daughter of Edom; He will expose your sins. | 22O beautiful Jerusalem, your punishment will end; you will soon return from exile. But Edom, your punishment is just beginning; soon your many sins will be exposed. |
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