2 The precious sons of Zion,

Weighed against fine gold,

How they are regarded as aearthen jars,

The work of a potter’s hands!

3 Even ajackals offer the breast,

They nurse their young;

But the daughter of my people has become bcruel

Like costriches in the wilderness.

4 The atongue of the infant cleaves

To the roof of its mouth because of bthirst;

The little ones cask for bread,

But no one breaks it for them.

5 Those who ate adelicacies

Are desolate in the streets;

Those 1reared in purple

Embrace ash pits.

6 For the 1iniquity of the daughter of my people

Is greater than the 2asin of Sodom,

Which was boverthrown as in a moment,

And no hands were 3turned toward her.

7 Her 1consecrated ones were apurer than snow,

They were whiter than milk;

They were more ruddy in 2body than corals,

Their polishing was like 3blapis lazuli.

8 Their appearance is ablacker than soot,

They are not recognized in the streets;

Their bskin is shriveled on their bones,

It is withered, it has become like wood.

9 Better are those 1aslain with the sword

Than those 1slain with hunger;

For they 2bpine away, being stricken

For lack of the fruits of 3the field.

10 The hands of compassionate women

aBoiled their own children;

They became bfood for them

Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.

11 The Lord has aaccomplished His wrath,

He has poured out His fierce anger;

And He has bkindled a fire in Zion

Which has consumed its foundations.

12 The kings of the earth did not believe,

Nor did any of athe inhabitants of the world,

That the adversary and the enemy

Could benter the gates of Jerusalem.