Lamentations 4

Chapter 4

Distress of the Siege Described

¹How ^adark the gold has become,

How the pure gold has changed!

The sacred stones are poured out

At the ¹corner of every street.

²The precious sons of Zion,

Weighed against fine gold,

How they are regarded as ^aearthen jars,

The work of a potter’s hands!

³Even ^ajackals offer the breast,

They nurse their young;

But the daughter of my people has become ^bcruel

Like ^costriches in the wilderness.

⁴The ^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.

⁵Those who ate ^adelicacies

Are desolate in the streets;

Those ¹reared in purple

Embrace ash pits.

⁶For 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.

⁷Her 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.

⁸Their 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.

⁹Better are those ^1aslain with the sword

Than those slain with hunger;

For they ^2bpine away, being stricken

For lack of the fruits of ³the field.

¹⁰The hands of compassionate women

^aBoiled their own children;

They became ^bfood for them

Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.

¹¹The 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.

¹²The 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.

¹³Because of the sins of her ^aprophets

And the iniquities of her priests,

Who have shed in her midst

The ^bblood of the righteous;

¹⁴They wandered, ^ablind, in the streets;

They were defiled with ^bblood

So that no one could touch their ^cgarments.

¹⁵“Depart! ^aUnclean!” ¹they cried of themselves.

“Depart, depart, do not touch!”

So they ^bfled and wandered;

Men among the nations said,

“They shall not continue to dwell with us.”

¹⁶The presence of the Lord has scattered them,

He will not continue to regard them;

They did not ^1ahonor the priests,

They did not favor the elders.

¹⁷Yet our eyes failed,

Looking for ¹help was ^auseless;

In our watching we have watched

For a ^bnation that could not save.

¹⁸They ^ahunted our steps

So that we could not walk in our streets;

Our ^bend drew near,

Our days were ¹finished

For our end had come.

¹⁹Our pursuers were ^aswifter

Than the eagles of the sky;

They chased us on the mountains,

They waited in ambush for us in the wilderness.

²⁰The ^abreath of our nostrils, the ^bLord’s anointed,

Was ^ccaptured in their pits,

Of whom we had said, “Under his ^dshadow

We shall live among the nations.”

²¹Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of ^aEdom,

Who dwells in the land of Uz;

But the ^bcup will come around to you as well,

You will become drunk and make yourself naked.

²²The punishment of your iniquity has been ^acompleted, O daughter of Zion;

He will exile you no longer.

But He ^bwill punish your iniquity, O daughter of Edom;

He will expose your sins!