The Holy Stones Lie Scattered

4 qHow the gold has grown dim,

how the pure gold is changed!

The holy stones lie scattered

rat the head of every street.

2  The precious sons of Zion,

worth their weight in sfine gold,

how they are regarded as tearthen pots,

the work of a potter’s hands!

3  Even jackals offer the breast;

they nurse their young;

but the daughter of my people has become cruel,

like the ostriches in the wilderness.

4  The tongue of the nursing infant usticks

to the roof of its mouth for thirst;

vthe children beg for food,

but no one gives to them.

5  Those who once feasted on delicacies

perish in the streets;

wthose who were brought up in purple

embrace ash heaps.

6  xFor the chastisement1 of the daughter of my people has been greater

than the punishment2 of Sodom,

ywhich was overthrown in a moment,

and no hands were wrung for her.3

7  Her princes were purer than snow,

whiter than milk;

their bodies were more ruddy than coral,

the beauty of their form4 was like sapphire.5

8  zNow their face is blacker than soot;

they are not recognized in the streets;

their skin has shriveled on their bones;

it has become as dry as wood.

9  Happier were the victims of the sword

than the victims of hunger,

who wasted away, pierced

by lack of the fruits of the field.

10  aThe hands of bcompassionate women

chave boiled their own children;

dthey became their food

during the destruction of the daughter of my people.

11  eThe Lord gave full vent to his wrath;

he poured out his hot anger,

and fhe kindled a fire in Zion

that consumed its foundations.

12  gThe kings of the earth did not believe,

nor any of the inhabitants of the world,

that foe or enemy could enter

the gates of Jerusalem.

13  This was for hthe sins of her prophets

and hthe iniquities of her priests,

who shed in the midst of her

the blood of the righteous.

14  iThey wandered, blind, through the streets;

they were so defiled with blood

jthat no one was able to touch

their garments.

15  “Away! kUnclean!” people cried at them.

“Away! Away! Do not touch!”

So they became fugitives and wanderers;

people said among the nations,

“They shall stay with us no longer.”

16  lThe Lord himself6 has scattered them;

he will regard them no more;

mno honor was shown to the priests,

nno favor to the elders.

17  oOur eyes failed, ever watching

ovainly for help;

in our watching we watched

for pa nation which could not save.

18  qThey dogged our steps

so that we could not walk in our streets;

rour end drew near; our days were numbered,

for our end had come.

19  Our pursuers were sswifter

than the eagles in the heavens;

they chased us on the mountains;

they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.

20  tThe breath of our nostrils, uthe Lord’s anointed,

was captured vin their pits,

of whom we said, w“Under his shadow

we shall live among the nations.”

21  xRejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom,

you who dwell in ythe land of Uz;

but to you also zthe cup shall pass;

you shall become drunk and strip yourself bare.

22  aThe punishment of your iniquity, O daughter of Zion, is accomplished;

he will keep you in exile no longer;7

but byour iniquity, O daughter of Edom, he will punish;

he will uncover your sins.