Lamentations 4

א Alas! The gold is dulled, Debased the finest gold! The sacred gems are spilled At every street corner.

ב The precious children of Zion; Once valued as gold— Alas, they are accounted as earthen pots, Work of a potter’s hands!

ג Even jackals offer the breast And suckle their young; But my poor people has turned cruel, Like ostriches of the desert.

ד The tongue of the suckling cleaves To its palate for thirst. Little children beg for bread; None gives them a morsel.

ה Those who feasted on dainties Lie famished in the streets; Those who were reared in purple Have embraced refuse heaps.

ו The guilt of my poor people Exceeded the iniquity of Sodom, Which was overthrown in a moment, Without a hand striking it.

ז Her elect were purer than snow, Whiter than milk; Their limbs were ruddier than coral, Their bodies were like sapphire.

ח 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.

ט Better off were the slain of the sword Than those slain by famine, Who pined away, [as though] wounded, For lack of the fruits of the field.

י With their own hands, tenderhearted women Have cooked their children; Such became their fare, In the disaster of my poor people.

כ GOD gave full vent to fury, And poured out blazing wrath— Kindling a fire in Zion That consumed its foundations.

ל The kings of the earth did not believe, Nor any of the inhabitants of the world, That foe or adversary could enter The gates of Jerusalem.

מ It was for the sins of her prophets, The iniquities of her priests, Who had shed in her midst The blood of the just.

נ They wandered blindly through the streets, Defiled with blood, So that no one was able To touch their garments.

ס “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.”

פ 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.

ע Even now our eyes pine away In vain for deliverance. As we waited, still we wait For a nation that cannot help.

צ Our steps were checked, We could not walk in our squares. Our doom is near, our days are done— Alas, our doom has come!

ק Our pursuers were swifter Than the eagles in the sky; They chased us in the mountains, Lay in wait for us in the wilderness.

ר The breath of our life, GOD’s anointed, Was captured in their traps— He in whose shade we had thought To live among the nations.

ש 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.

ת Your iniquity, Fair Zion, is expiated; You will be exiled no longer. Your iniquity, Fair Edom, [God] will note, And uncover your sins.