Lamentations 4:9-22 ▼

9 They that are slain with the sword are better Than they that are slain with hunger; For these pine away, stricken through, For want of the fruits of the field.

10 The hands of women full of compassion Have sodden their own children; They were their food In the destruction of the daughter of my people.

11 The LORD hath accomplished His fury, He hath poured out His fierce anger; And He hath kindled a fire in Zion, Which hath devoured the foundations thereof.

12 The kings of the earth believed not, Neither all the inhabitants of the world, That the adversary and the enemy would enter Into the gates of Jerusalem.

13 It is because of the sins of her prophets, And the iniquities of her priests, That have shed the blood of the just In the midst of her.

14 They wander as blind men in the streets, They are polluted with blood, So that men cannot Touch their garments.

15 Depart ye! unclean!' men cried unto them, 'Depart, depart, touch not'; Yea, they fled away and wandered; Men said among the nations: 'They shall no more sojourn here.'

16 The anger of the LORD hath divided them; He will no more regard them; They respected not the persons of the priests, They were not gracious unto the elders.

17 As for us, our eyes do yet fail For our vain help; In our watching we have watched For a nation that could not save.

18 They hunt our steps, That we cannot go in our broad places; Our end is near, our days are fulfilled; For our end is come.

19 Our pursuers were swifter Than the eagles of the heaven; They chased us upon the mountains, They lay in wait for us in the wilderness.

20 The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the LORD, Was taken in their pits; Of whom we said: 'Under his shadow We shall live among the nations.'

21 Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, That dwellest in the land of Uz: The cup shall pass over unto thee also; Thou shalt be drunken, and shalt make thyself naked.

22 The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion, He will no more carry thee away into captivity; He will punish thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom, He will uncover thy sins.