Lamentations 4
1 How is the gold become dim! the most pure gold changed! the stones of the sanctuary poured out at the top of all the streets!
[Previously our people were like] [MET] pure gold, but now they are worthless. [Like] [MET] the sacred stones in the temple have been scattered, [our young men have been scattered].
2 The sons of Zion, so precious, comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!
The young men of Jerusalem were as valuable as [MET] large amounts of gold, but now people consider that they are as worthless as [ordinary] clay pots.
3 Even the jackals offer the breast, they give suck to their young; the daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.
Even the [female] jackals/wolves feed their pups, but my people act cruelly [toward their children]; they are like [SIM] ostriches in the desert [that abandon their eggs].
4 The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst; the young children ask bread, no man breaketh it unto them.
[My people’s] infants’ tongues cling to the roofs/tops of their mouths because they are [extremely] thirsty; the children plead for some food, but no one gives them [any].
5 They that fed delicately are desolate in the streets; they that were brought up in scarlet embrace dung-hills.
People who [previously] ate fine food are [now] starving in the streets; those who previously lived luxuriously [MTY] [now] paw/dig through rubbish heaps [to find some food].
6 And the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the reward of the sin of Sodom, which was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands were violently laid upon her.
[The people of] Sodom were struck with a disaster very suddenly, and there was no one to rescue them; but my people have been punished more severely than [the people of] Sodom were punished.
7 Her Nazarites were purer than snow, whiter than milk; they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their figure was as sapphire.
Our leaders’ [behavior] was [previously] very pure, whiter [and brighter] than snow and milk; their bodies were redder than [red] coral/stones; they were very strong and healthy [MET].
8 Their visage is darker than blackness, they are not known in the streets; their skin cleaveth to their bones, it is withered, it is become like a stick.
But now their faces are blacker than soot, and no one recognizes them in the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones, and it has become as dry as [SIM] a wooden [stick].
9 The slain with the sword are happier than the slain with hunger; for these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the field.
It is better to die in a battle [MTY] than to die of hunger. There was no food to harvest in the fields, so the people slowly starved until they died.
10 The hands of pitiful women have boiled their own children: they were their meat in the ruin of the daughter of my people.
Women who [usually/previously] were very kind have [killed and] cooked their own children; they ate them [when there was no other food], when Jerusalem was surrounded [by enemy soldiers].
11 Jehovah hath accomplished his fury; he hath poured out his fierce anger, and hath kindled a fire in Zion, which hath consumed the foundations thereof.
Yahweh has shown that he was extremely angry; [it is as though] he started/ignited a fire in Jerusalem that burned everything to ashes.
12 The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the world, would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy should enter into the gates of Jerusalem.
None of the kings on the earth or anyone else believed that any of our enemies could enter the gates of Jerusalem.
13 [It is] for the sins of her prophets, [and] the iniquities of her priests, who have shed the blood of the righteous in the midst of her.
[But that is what happened]; it happened because the prophets sinned; and the priests [also] sinned by causing innocent people to be executed [MTY].
14 They wandered about blind in the streets; they were polluted with blood, so that men could not touch their garments.
The prophets and priests wandered through the streets [as though they were] blind. No one would touch them because their clothes were stained with the blood [of people who had been killed].
15 They cried unto them, Depart! Unclean! Depart! depart, touch not! When they fled away, and wandered about, it was said among the nations, They shall no more sojourn [there].
The people [who were alive] shouted, “Stay away [from us] [DOU]! You are defiled/untouchable! Do not touch us!” So the prophets and priests fled [from Israel], and they wandered around from one country to another, because people [in each country] kept saying to them, “You cannot stay here!”
16 The face of Jehovah hath divided them; he will no more regard them. They respected not the persons of the priests, they favoured not the aged.
It is Yahweh himself who has scattered them; he no longer is concerned about them. People do not respect [our] priests or leaders.
17 Our eyes still failed for our vain help; in our watching, we have watched for a nation that did not save.
We [SYN] continued to look for someone to help [us], but it was useless. We continued to watch to see if one of our allies would save us, but none of the nations that we were waiting for could help [us].
18 They hunted our steps, that we could not go in our streets: our end is near, our days are fulfilled; for our end is come.
[Our] enemies were hunting for us, so we could not [even] walk in our streets [lest they seize us]. We were about to be captured; it was time for us to be killed.
19 Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the heavens; they chased us hotly upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness.
Those who pursued us were faster than eagles [flying] in the sky. Even if we fled to the mountains or hid in the desert, they [went there ahead of us and] waited [to attack] us.
20 The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of Jehovah, was taken in their pits; of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the nations.
[Our king, ] whom Yahweh appointed, was the one who enabled us to remain alive [MTY]; he was the one whom we trusted to protect us [IDM] from [the armies of] other nations. But he was [captured] [like animals are] [MET] caught in a pit.
21 Rejoice and be glad, daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Uz: the cup shall pass also unto thee; thou shalt be drunken, and make thyself naked.
You people of [IDM] Edom and Uz, [you may] be happy [about what is happening to us now], but [Yahweh] will be punishing [MTY] you [also]. You will become drunk and will be ashamed [because your enemies] will have stripped off your clothes.
22 The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion; he will no more carry thee away into captivity. He will visit thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom; he will discover thy sins.
You [people of] [APO] Jerusalem, the time of your being punished will end; Yahweh will not allow you to continue to live in (exile/foreign countries). But [you people of] [APO] Edom, Yahweh will punish [you]; he will reveal the wicked things that you have done.
