Lamentations 4
1א Alas!The gold is dulled, Debased the finest gold!The sacred gems are spilledAt every street corner.
2ב The precious children of Zion;Once valued as gold—Alas, they are accounted as earthen pots,Work of a potter’s hands!
3ג Even jackals offer the breastAnd suckle their young;But my poor people has turned cruel,Like ostriches of the desert.
4ד The tongue of the suckling cleavesTo its palate for thirst.Little children beg for bread;None gives them a morsel.
5ה Those who feasted on daintiesLie famished in the streets;Those who were reared in purpleHave embraced refuse heaps.
6ו The guilt of my poor peopleExceeded the iniquity of Sodom,Which was overthrown in a moment,Without a hand striking it.
7ז Her elect were purer than snow,Whiter than milk;Their limbs were ruddier than coral,Their bodies were like sapphire.
8ח Now their faces are blacker than soot,They are not recognized in the streets;Their skin has shriveled on their bones,It has become dry as wood.
9ט Better off were the slain of the swordThan those slain by famine,Who pined away, [as though] wounded,For lack of the fruits of the field.
10י With their own hands, tenderhearted womenHave cooked their children;Such became their fare,In the disaster of my poor people.
11כ GOD gave full vent to fury,And poured out blazing wrath—Kindling a fire in ZionThat consumed its foundations.
12ל The kings of the earth did not believe,Nor any of the inhabitants of the world,That foe or adversary could enterThe gates of Jerusalem.
13מ It was for the sins of her prophets,The iniquities of her priests,Who had shed in her midstThe blood of the just.
14נ They wandered blindly through the streets,Defiled with blood,So that no one was ableTo touch their garments.
15ס “Away! Unclean!” people shouted at them,“Away! Away! Touch not!”So they wandered and wandered again;For the nations had resolved:“They shall stay here no longer.”
16פ GOD’s countenance has turned away from them, And will look on them no more.They showed no regard for priests,No favor to elders.
17ע Even now our eyes pine awayIn vain for deliverance.As we waited, still we waitFor a nation that cannot help.
18צ Our steps were checked,We could not walk in our squares. Our doom is near, our days are done—Alas, our doom has come!
19ק Our pursuers were swifterThan the eagles in the sky;They chased us in the mountains,Lay in wait for us in the wilderness.
20ר The breath of our life, GOD’s anointed, Was captured in their traps—He in whose shade we had thoughtTo live among the nations.
21ש Rejoice and exult, Fair Edom,Who dwell in the land of Uz!To you, too, the cup shall pass,You shall get drunk and expose your nakedness.
22ת Your iniquity, Fair Zion, is expiated;You will be exiled no longer.Your iniquity, Fair Edom, [God] will note,And uncover your sins.