Lamentations 4:1-10 ▼

1 How the gold has become dim. How 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 regarded as clay jars, the work of the hands of the potter.

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

4 The nursing infant's tongue sticks to the roof of his mouth for thirst. The young children ask for bread, but no one gives to them.

5 Those who ate delicacies are destitute in the streets. Those who were brought up in purple embrace ash heaps.

6 For the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the sin of Sodom, which was overthrown in an instant, and no hands were laid on her.

7 Her consecrated ones were purer than snow, whiter than milk; their bodies more ruddy than rubies, their appearance was like lapis lazuli.

8 They appear darker than soot; they are not known in the streets. Their skin cleaves to their bones; it is withered and has become as dry as a stick.

9 Those who are killed with the sword are better than those who are killed with hunger; those who waste away, pierced through, for lack of the fruits of the field.

10 The hands of the compassionate women have cooked their own children; they were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.