Lamentations 4:3–10

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.