Lamentations 4

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¹The gold has become tarnished; how the purest gold has changed! The holy stones are scattered at the corner of every street.

²The precious sons of Zion were worth their weight in pure gold, but now they are worth no more than clay jars, the work of the potter's hands!

³Even the jackals offer the breast to nurse their cubs, but the daughter of my people has become cruel, like the ostriches in the desert.

⁴The tongue of the nursing baby sticks to the roof of his mouth by thirst; the children ask for food, but there is none for them.

⁵Those who used to feast on the finest food now starve in the streets. Those who were brought up wearing scarlet clothing now lie on piles of ashes.

⁶The punishment of the daughter of my people is greater than that of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment and no hands were wrung for her.

⁷Her leaders were purer than snow, whiter than milk; their bodies were more ruddy than coral, their form was like sapphire.

⁸Their appearance now is darker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones; it has become as dry as wood.

⁹Those who have been killed by the sword were happier than those killed by hunger, who wasted away, pierced by the lack of any harvest from the field.

¹⁰The hands of compassionate women have boiled their own children; they became their food during the time when the daughter of my people was being destroyed.

¹¹Yahweh showed all his wrath; he poured out his fierce anger. He kindled a fire in Zion that consumed her foundations.

¹²The kings of the earth did not believe, nor did any of the inhabitants of the world believe, that enemies or opponents could enter the gates of Jerusalem.

¹³This happened because of the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests who have shed the blood of the righteous in her midst.

¹⁴They wandered, blind, through the streets. They were so defiled by that blood that no one was allowed to touch their clothes.

¹⁵“Away! Unclean!” people cried at them. “Away! Away! Do not touch!” So they wandered about; people said among the nations, “They can stay here no longer.”

¹⁶Yahweh himself scattered them; he does not watch over them anymore. They do not honor the priests, and they did not show any favor to the elders.

¹⁷Our eyes failed, looking in vain for help; from our watchtowers we watched for a nation that could not rescue us.

¹⁸They followed our steps, we could not walk in our streets. Our end was near and our days were numbered, our end had come.

¹⁹Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles in the sky. They chased us to the mountains and lay in wait for us in the wilderness.

²⁰The breath in our nostrils—Yahweh's anointed one—he was the one who was captured in their pits; of whom it was said, “Under his shadow we will live among the nations.”

²¹Rejoice and be glad, daughter of Edom, you who live in the land of Uz. But to you also the cup will be passed; you will be drunk and strip yourself naked.

²²Daughter of Zion, your punishment will come to an end; he will not extend your exile. But daughter of Edom, he will punish; he will uncover your sins.