Lamentations 4
1 ALEPH. How will the gold be tarnished, [and] the fine silver changed! the sacred stones have been poured forth at the top of all the streets.
How gold has tarnished! Even pure gold has lost its shine! Jewels from the Temple have been scattered on every street corner.
2 BETH. The precious sons of Zion, who were equalled in value with gold, how are they counted as earthen vessels, the works of the hands of the potter!
Look at how the precious people of Zion, worth their weight in gold, are now valued like cheap clay jars made by a potter!
3 GIMEL. Nay, serpents have drawn out the breasts, they give suck to their young, the daughters of my people are incurably cruel, as an ostrich in a desert.
Even jackals nurse their young at their breasts, but the women of my people have become cruel, like an ostrich in the desert.
4 DALETH. The tongue of the sucking child cleaves to the roof of its mouth for thirst: the little children ask for bread, [and] there is none to break [it] to them.
The nursing babies are so thirsty that their tongues stick to the roof of their mouths. Little children beg for food, but nobody gives them anything.
5 HE. They that feed on dainties are desolate in the streets: they that used to be nursed in scarlet have clothed themselves with dung.
Those who used to eat gourmet food now die starving in the streets. Those who dressed in fine clothes from their childhood now live in heaps of rubbish.
6 VAU. And the iniquity of the daughter of my people has been increased beyond the iniquities of Sodoma, [the city] that was overthrown very suddenly, and none laboured against her [with their] hands.
Jerusalem's punishment is worse than sinful Sodom's, which was destroyed in a brief moment, without the help of human hands.
7 ZAIN. Her Nazarites were made purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were purified [as] with fire, their polishing was superior to sapphire stone.
Her leaders were purer than snow, whiter than milk; their bodies were a healthier red than coral, and they shone like lapis lazuli.
8 HETH. Their countenance is become blacker than smoke; they are not known in the streets: their skin has cleaved to their bones; they are withered, they are become as a stick.
But now they look blacker than soot; no one recognizes them in the street. Their skin has shrunk to their bones and is as dry as wood.
9 TETH. The slain with the sword were better than they that were slain with hunger: they have departed, pierced through from [lack of] the fruits of the field.
Those killed by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger, who slowly waste away in agony because the fields produce no crops.
10 JOD. The hands of tender-hearted women have sodden their own children: they became meat for them in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
The hands of loving women have cooked their own children to eat during the destruction of Jerusalem.
11 CHAPH. The Lord has accomplished his wrath; he has poured out fierce anger, and has kindled a fire in Sion, and it has devoured her foundations.
The Lord has given full expression to his anger. He has poured out his fury. He has started a fire in Zion, and it has burned down her very foundations.
12 LAMED. The kings of the earth, [even] all that dwell in the world, believed not that an enemy and oppressor would enter through the gates of Jerusalem.
No king on earth—in fact nobody in all the world—thought that an enemy or attacker could enter the gates of Jerusalem.
13 MEM. For the sins of her prophets, [and] iniquities of her priests, who shed righteous blood in the midst of her,
But this happened because of the sins of her prophets and the wickedness of her priests, who shed the blood of the innocent right there in the city.
14 NUN. her watchmen staggered in the streets, they were defiled with blood in their weakness, they touched their raiment [with it].
They wandered like blind men through the streets, made unclean by this blood, so no one would touch their clothes.
15 SAMECH. Depart you from the unclean ones: call you them: depart, depart, touch [them] not: for they are on fire, yes, they stagger: say you amongst the nations, They shall no more sojourn [there].
“Go away! You're unclean!” people would shout at them, “Go away, go away! Don't touch us!” So they ran away and wandered from country to country, but the people there told them, “You can't stay here!”
16 AIN. The presence of the Lord [was] their portion; [but] he will not again look upon them: they regarded not the person of the priests, they pitied not the prophets.
The Lord himself has scattered them; he doesn't bother with them anymore. Nobody respects the priests, and nobody admires the leaders.
17 PHE. While we yet lived our eyes failed, while we looked in vain for our help. TSADE. We looked to a nation that could not save.
We wore out our eyes pointlessly looking for help the whole time; we watched from our towers for a nation to come that couldn't save us.
18 We have hunted [for] our little ones, that they should not walk in our streets. KOPH. Our time has drawn near, our days are fulfilled, our time is come.
The enemy tracked our every movement so we couldn't walk through our streets. Our end approached. Our time was up because our end had come.
19 Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the sky, they flew on the mountains, in the wilderness they laid wait for us.
Our pursuers were faster than eagles in the sky. They chased us across the mountains and ambushed us in the desert.
20 RECHS. The breath of our nostrils, [our] anointed Lord, was taken in their destructive snares, of whom we said, In his shadow we shall live amongst the Gentiles.
The king, the Lord's anointed, our country's “life-breath,” was trapped and captured by them. We had said about him, “Under his protection we will live among the nations.”
21 CHSEN. Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Idumea, that dwell in the land: yet the cup of the Lord shall pass through to you: you shall be drunken, and pour forth.
Celebrate and be happy while you can, people of Edom, you who live in the land of Uz, because this cup will be passed to you too. You will get drunk and strip yourself naked.
22 THAU. O daughter of Sion, your iniquity has come to an end; he shall no more carry you captive: he has visited your iniquities, O daughter of Edom; he has discovered your sins.
People of Zion, your punishment is coming to an end—he won't continue your exile for long. But he is going to punish your sins, people of Edom; he will reveal your sins.
