Lamentations 4:1-14 ▼

1 HOW is the fine gold rejected! how is the lovely color faded! the stones of the sanctuary are thrown down at the head of every street.

2 The precious sons of Zion, who were better than precious stones, how are they esteemed as earthen pots, the work of the hands of the potter!

3 The women uncover their breasts like jackals, they give suck to their young ones; the daughters of my people have become like wounds that cannot be healed and like ostriches in the wilderness.

4 The tongue of the suckling child cleaves to the roof of his mouth for thirst; the children ask bread, but no one breaks the loaf and gives it to them.

5 Those that fed on delicacies are destitute in the streets; those who were reared in scarlet sleep in dunghills.

6 For the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a moment and no hands were weary in destroying it.

7 Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk; their cheeks were more ruddy than rubies, and their form more beautiful than sapphires.

8 But now their visage is blacker than charcoal; they are not recognized in the streets; their skin is shriveled on their bones; it has dried up and it has become like a stick.

9 Those who were slain by the sword are better than those who are slain with hunger; for these pine away, like those who are wounded and thrown in the field.

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

11 The LORD has accomplished his fury; he has poured out his fierce anger and has kindled a fire in Zion, and it has devoured the foundations thereof.

12 The kings of the earth did not believe, nor all the inhabitants of the world, that the enemy and the oppressor could come and enter into the gates of Jerusalem.

13 It happened for the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, who have shed in the midst of her the blood of the righteous.

14 Her princes wander in her streets, they wallow in blood, so that no one could touch their garments.