Lamentations 4:1-16 ▼

1 How dark the gold has become, How the pure gold has changed! The sacred stones are poured out At the head of every street.

2 The precious sons of Zion, Weighed against fine gold, How they are regarded as earthen jars, The work of a potter’s hands!

3 Even jackals offer the breast; They nurse their young; But the daughter of my people has become cruel Like ostriches in the wilderness.

4 The tongue of the nursing baby cleaves To the roof of its mouth because of thirst; The infants ask for bread, But no one breaks it for them.

5 Those who ate delicacies Are desolate in the streets; Those reared in crimson Embrace ash pits.

6 So the iniquity of the daughter of my people Is greater than the sin of Sodom, Which was overthrown as in a moment, And no hands whirled toward her.

7 Her Nazirites were purer than snow; They were whiter than milk; They were more ruddy in body than corals, Their polishing was like lapis lazuli.

8 Their form is blacker than soot; They are not recognized in the streets; Their skin is shriveled on their bones; It is withered, it has become like wood.

9 Better are those pierced through with the sword Than those pierced through with hunger; For their life flows away, being stricken For lack of the produce of the field.

10 The hands of compassionate women Boiled their own children; They became food for them Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.

11 Yahweh has spent His wrath; He has poured out His burning anger; And He has kindled a fire in Zion Which has devoured its foundations.

12 The kings of the earth did not believe, Nor did any of the inhabitants of the world, That the adversary and the enemy Could enter the gates of Jerusalem.

13 Because of the sins of her prophets And the iniquities of her priests, Who have shed in her midst The blood of the righteous;

14 They wandered, blind, in the streets; They were defiled with blood So that no one could touch their garments.

15 “Depart! Unclean!” they cried of themselves. “Depart, depart, do not touch!” So they fled and wandered; Men among the nations said, “They shall not continue to sojourn with us.”

16 The presence of Yahweh has eradicated them; He will not continue to look at them; They did not honor the priests; They did not favor the elders.