| English Standard Version | New Living Translation |
| 1How the gold has grown dim, how the pure gold is changed! The holy stones lie scattered at the head of every street. | 1How the gold has lost its luster! Even the finest gold has become dull. The sacred gemstones lie scattered in the streets! |
| 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! | 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 the breast; they nurse their young; but the daughter of my people has become cruel, like the ostriches 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 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. | 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 feasted on delicacies perish in the streets; those who were brought up in purple embrace 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. |
| 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. | 6The guilt of my people is greater than that of Sodom, where utter disaster struck in a moment and no hand offered help. |
| 7Her princes were purer than snow, whiter than milk; their bodies were more ruddy than coral, the beauty of their form was like sapphire. | 7Our princes once glowed with health— brighter than snow, whiter than milk. Their faces were as ruddy as rubies, their appearance like fine jewels. |
| 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. | 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. |
| 9Happier were the victims of the sword than the victims of hunger, who wasted away, pierced by lack of the fruits of the field. | 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 boiled their own children; they became their food during 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 gave full vent to his wrath; he poured out his hot anger, and he kindled a fire in Zion that consumed its 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 of the inhabitants of the world, that foe or enemy 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. |
| 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. | 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, through the streets; they were so defiled with blood that no one was able to touch their garments. | 14They wandered blindly through the streets, so defiled by blood that no one dared touch them. |
| 15“Away! 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.” | 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 LORD himself has scattered them; he will regard them no more; no honor was shown to the priests, no favor to the elders. | 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. |
| 17Our eyes failed, ever watching vainly for help; in our watching we watched for a nation which could not save. | 17We looked in vain for our allies to come and save us, but we were looking to nations that could not help us. |
| 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. | 18We couldn’t go into the streets without danger to our lives. Our end was near; our days were numbered. We were doomed! |
| 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. | 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 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.” | 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! |
| 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. | 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. |
| 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. | 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. |
| ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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