Lamentations 4–5

Chapter 4

¹How the gold has grown dim,

how the pure gold is changed!

The holy stones lie scattered

at the head of every street.

²The precious sons of Zion,

worth their weight in fine gold,

how they are reckoned as earthen pots,

the work of a potter’s hands!

³Even the jackals give the breast

and suckle their young,

but the daughter of my people has become cruel,

like the ostriches in the wilderness.

⁴The tongue of the nursling cleaves

to the roof of its mouth for thirst;

the children beg for food,

but no one gives to them.

⁵Those who feasted on dainties

perish in the streets;

those who were brought up in purple

lie on ash heaps.

⁶For the chastisement of the daughter of my people has been greater

than the punishment of Sodom,

which was overthrown in a moment,

no hand being laid on it.

⁷Her princes were purer than snow,

whiter than milk;

their bodies were more ruddy than coral,

the beauty of their form was like sapphire.

⁸Now their visage is blacker than soot,

they are not recognized in the streets;

their skin has shriveled upon their bones,

it has become as dry as wood.

⁹Happier were the victims of the sword

than the victims of hunger,

who pined away, stricken

by want of the fruits of the field.

¹⁰The hands of compassionate women

have boiled their own children;

they became their food

in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

¹¹The Lord gave full vent to his wrath,

he poured out his hot anger;

and he kindled a fire in Zion,

which consumed its foundations.

¹²The kings of the earth did not believe,

or any of the inhabitants of the world,

that foe or enemy could enter

the gates of Jerusalem.

¹³This was for the sins of her prophets

and the iniquities of her priests,

who shed in the midst of her

the blood of the righteous.

¹⁴They wandered, blind, through the streets,

so defiled with blood

that none could touch

their garments.

¹⁵“Away! Unclean!” men cried at them;

“Away! Away! Touch not!”

So they became fugitives and wanderers;

men said among the nations,

“They shall stay with us no longer.”

¹⁶The Lord himself has scattered them,

he will regard them no more;

no honor was shown to the priests,

no favor to the elders.

¹⁷Our eyes failed, ever watching

vainly for help;

in our watching we watched

for a nation which could not save.

¹⁸Men dogged our steps

so that we could not walk in our streets;

our end drew near; our days were numbered;

for our end had come.

¹⁹Our pursuers were swifter

than the vultures in the heavens;

they chased us on the mountains,

they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.

²⁰The breath of our nostrils, the Lord’s anointed,

was taken in their pits,

he of whom we said, “Under his shadow

we shall live among the nations.”

²¹Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom,

dweller in the land of Uz;

but to you also the cup shall pass;

you shall become drunk and strip yourself bare.

²²The punishment of your iniquity, O daughter of Zion, is accomplished,

he will keep you in exile no longer;

but your iniquity, O daughter of Edom, he will punish,

he will uncover your sins.

Chapter 5

¹Remember, O Lord, what has befallen us;

behold, and see our disgrace!

²Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,

our homes to aliens.

³We have become orphans, fatherless;

our mothers are like widows.

⁴We must pay for the water we drink,

the wood we get must be bought.

⁵With a yoke on our necks we are hard driven;

we are weary, we are given no rest.

⁶We have given the hand to Egypt,

and to Assyria, to get bread enough.

⁷Our fathers sinned, and are no more;

and we bear their iniquities.

⁸Slaves rule over us;

there is none to deliver us from their hand.

⁹We get our bread at the peril of our lives,

because of the sword in the wilderness.

¹⁰Our skin is hot as an oven

with the burning heat of famine.

¹¹Women are ravished in Zion,

virgins in the towns of Judah.

¹²Princes are hung up by their hands;

no respect is shown to the elders.

¹³Young men are compelled to grind at the mill;

and boys stagger under loads of wood.

¹⁴The old men have quit the city gate,

the young men their music.

¹⁵The joy of our hearts has ceased;

our dancing has been turned to mourning.

¹⁶The crown has fallen from our head;

woe to us, for we have sinned!

¹⁷For this our heart has become sick,

for these things our eyes have grown dim,

¹⁸for Mount Zion which lies desolate;

jackals prowl over it.

¹⁹But thou, O Lord, dost reign for ever;

thy throne endures to all generations.

²⁰Why dost thou forget us for ever,

why dost thou so long forsake us?

²¹Restore us to thyself, O Lord, that we may be restored!

Renew our days as of old!

²²Or hast thou utterly rejected us?

Art thou exceedingly angry with us?