Lamentations 4
1 How gold has tarnished! Even pure gold has lost its shine! Jewels from the Temple have been scattered on every street corner.
How is the gold become dim! how is the most fine gold changed! The hallowed stones are cast forth at the head of every street.
2 Look at how the precious people of Zion, worth their weight in gold, are now valued like cheap clay jars made by a potter!
The noble sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, How are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!
3 Even jackals nurse their young at their breasts, but the women of my people have become cruel, like an ostrich in the desert.
The very jackals reach forth the breast; they suckle their young; But the daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches of the desert.
4 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.
The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst; Young children ask for bread, and no man breaketh it for them.
5 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.
Those that fed on dainties are desolate in the streets; Those that have been brought up in scarlet embrace the dunghill.
6 Jerusalem's punishment is worse than sinful Sodom's, which was destroyed in a brief moment, without the help of human hands.
The punishment of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of Sodom, Which was overthrown in a moment, though no hands came against her.
7 Her leaders were purer than snow, whiter than milk; their bodies were a healthier red than coral, and they shone like lapis lazuli.
Her princes were purer than snow, whiter than milk; More ruddy than coral was their body; Their visage was of sapphire.
8 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.
Now darker than a coal is their countenance; they are not known in the streets. Their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is become dry, like wood.
9 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.
More fortunate are the slain by the sword than the slain by famine; For these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the field.
10 The hands of loving women have cooked their own children to eat during the destruction of Jerusalem.
The hands of tender-hearted women cooked their own children; They were their food, in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
11 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.
Jehovah hath spent upon them his fury; he hath poured out his fierce anger; He hath kindled a fire in Zion, which hath devoured its foundations.
12 No king on earth—in fact nobody in all the world—thought that an enemy or attacker could enter the gates of Jerusalem.
The kings of the earth believed not, nor all the inhabitants of the world, That the adversary would enter, and the enemy, within the gates of Jerusalem.
13 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.
It was on account of the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, Who shed in the midst of her the blood of the righteous.
14 They wandered like blind men through the streets, made unclean by this blood, so no one would touch their clothes.
They stumbled like blind men through the streets, polluted with blood, So that men could not touch their garments.
15 “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!”
“Depart! unclean!” men cried to them. “Depart, depart, touch not!” As they fled, they stumbled; men said among the nations, “They shall dwell there no more.”
16 The Lord himself has scattered them; he doesn't bother with them anymore. Nobody respects the priests, and nobody admires the leaders.
The anger of Jehovah hath scattered them; he will no more care for them; They paid no regard to the priests, they had no compassion for the elders.
17 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.
Still did our eyes fail, looking for help in vain; On our watch-tower did we watch for a nation that could not save us.
18 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.
They laid snares for our steps, so that we could not go in our streets; Our end is near; our days are accomplished, yea, our end is come!
19 Our pursuers were faster than eagles in the sky. They chased us across the mountains and ambushed us in the desert.
Swifter were our pursuers than the eagles of heaven; They chased us upon the mountains; they laid wait for us in the wilderness.
20 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.”
The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of Jehovah, was taken in their pits, Under whose shadow we said that we should live among the nations.
21 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.
Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Uz! Yet to thee also shall the cup come! thou shalt be drunken, and shalt expose thy nakedness.
22 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.
Thy punishment is at an end, O daughter of Zion! no more will he carry thee into captivity; But thine iniquity will he punish, O daughter of Edom! he will uncover thy sins.
