Lamentations 4

¹ How the gold is tarnished! the good certified gold is altered; The holy stones are strewn about at the head of all the streets. ² The precious sons of Zion, those classed with glittering gold, How they are accounted as earthenware crocks, the work of the hands of a potter! ³ Even wild-jackals offer forth the breast; they suckle their whelps; But the daughter of my people is cruel like ostriches in the wilderness; ⁴ The tongue of the suckling clings to its palate from thirst; Infants beg for bread; there is no one spreading it out to them. ⁵ Those who ate dainties are desolated in the streets; Those who were fostered in crimson embrace hearth dung. ⁶ Indeed the depravity of the daughter of my people is greater than the sin of Sodom, Which was overturned as in a moment though no hands travailed against it! ⁷ Her Nazirites were purged more than snow; they were more shimmering than milk; In bodily staunchness they were more ruddy than rubies, their long-beard like sapphire. ⁸ Now their visage is darker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets; Their skin is shrunken over their bones, is dried up; it has become like wood. ⁹ Better off were they who were slain by the sword than those slain by famine, Those who are succumbing, stabbed from lack of produce of the field. ¹⁰ The hands of compassionate women cook their own children; They become a repast for them in the brokenness of the daughter of my people. ¹¹ Yahweh has made His fury whole; He has poured out His hot anger; And He is ravaging with fire in Zion which is devouring its foundations. ¹² The kings of the earth did not believe, nor any of the dwellers of the habitance, That foe and enemy could enter into the gateways of Jerusalem. ¹³ Because of the sins of her prophets, the depravities of her priests, Who were pouring out within her the blood of the righteous, ¹⁴ They rove about blind in the streets; they are sullied with blood, So that no one dare touch their clothing; ¹⁵ Go away! unclean! they call out to them; go away! go away! do not touch! Because they wander forth and rove about, men say among the nations: "They shall not continue to sojourn here." ¹⁶ The face of Yahweh has made them split up; He shall not continue to look upon them; They have not respected the priests; they have not favored the elders. ¹⁷ Furthermore for us our eyes are exhausted looking for our help in vain; From our watchtower we watched for a nation which could not save us. ¹⁸ They hunt our steps, keeping us from walking in our squares; Our end draws near; our days reach their fill; indeed our end has come. ¹⁹ Our pursuers have become fleeter than the vultures of the heavens; They dash after us upon the mountains; they lie in ambush for us in the wilderness. ²⁰ The spirit of our nostrils, the anointed of Yahweh, he is seized in their pits, Of whom we said: "In his shadow we shall live among the nations." ²¹ Be elated and rejoice, daughter of Edom, you who are dwelling in the country of Uz; To you also shall pass the cup of Yahweh; you shall become drunk and denude yourself. ²² Your wretchedness will come to end, daughter of Zion; He shall not continue to carry you away into exile; He will note your depravity, daughter of Edom; He will expose your sins.