Chapter 4

Distress of the Siege Described

1 How adark the gold has become,

How the pure gold has changed!

The sacred stones are poured out

At the 1corner of every street.

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.

13 Because of the sins of her aprophets

And the iniquities of her priests,

Who have shed in her midst

The bblood of the righteous;

14 They 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.”

16 The 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.

17 Yet our eyes failed,

Looking for 1help was auseless;

In our watching we have watched

For a bnation that could not save.

18 They 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.

19 Our pursuers were aswifter

Than the eagles of the sky;

They chased us on the mountains,

They waited in ambush for us in the wilderness.

20 The 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.”

21 Rejoice 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.

22 The 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!