Lamentations 4

1How the gold has lost its shine, the finest gold has changed! The sacred stones lie scattered at the corner of every street.

2Zion’s precious children, once worth their weight in fine gold, how they are now counted as common clay pots, the work of a potter’s hands!

3Even jackals offer the breast and nurse their young, but my dear people have become cruel, like ostriches in the desert.

4The nursing baby’s tongue sticks to the roof of its mouth from thirst; little children beg for bread, but no one shares any with them.

5Those who once ate fine food lie ruined in the streets; those raised in scarlet clothing now cling to the garbage heaps.

6The punishment of my dear people is greater than the penalty for Sodom’s sin; Sodom was overthrown in an instant, and no human hands were raised against her.

7Her princes were brighter than snow and whiter than milk; their bodies glowed redder than coral; they had the beauty of lapis lazuli.

8Now they look blacker than soot; no one knows them in the streets. Their skin has shrunk onto their bones; it has become as dry as a stick.

9Those killed by the sword were better off than those killed by hunger, who waste away as if stabbed, for want of food from the fields.

10With their own hands, tender-hearted women have cooked their children; they became their food when my dear people were shattered.

11The LORD has carried his fury through to the end; he has poured out his burning anger. He lit a fire in Zion, and it devoured her to her foundations.

12The kings of the earth would not have believed it, nor would anyone living in the world, that an enemy or attacker could march in through the gates of Jerusalem.

13It was for the sins of her prophets and her priests’ guilt, since they spilled the blood of the righteous in the midst of the city.

14They staggered blind through the streets, so defiled with blood that no one could touch their clothes.

15“Go away! Unclean!” people shouted at them. “Go away! Go away! Do not touch us!” So they fled and wandered from place to place, and among the nations people said, “They cannot stay here any longer.”

16The LORD’s own presence has scattered them; he will no longer look on them with care. No respect was shown to the priests, no kindness to the elders.

17Our eyes still strained, looking for help that came to nothing; from our watchtower we watched for a nation that could not save us.

18They tracked our steps so we could not walk in our own squares; our end drew near, our days were over, for our end had come.

19Those who hunted us were quicker than eagles in the sky; they chased us over the mountains, they set ambushes for us in the wilderness.

20The very breath of our life, the LORD’s anointed, was caught in their traps, the one of whom we had said, “Under his protection we will live among the nations.”

21Rejoice and be glad, Daughter Edom, you who live in the land of Uz! But the cup will be passed to you as well; you will get drunk and strip yourself bare.

22Your punishment is complete, Daughter Zion; he will not keep you in exile any longer. But he will punish your guilt, Daughter Edom; he will expose your sins.