Lamentations 4
1 Oh how is the gold become dim! how is the most fine gold changed! how are the stones of the sanctuary poured out at the corners of every street.
How gold has tarnished! Even pure gold has lost its shine! Jewels from the Temple have been scattered on every street corner.
2 The precious sons of Zion, valued equal to pure gold, how are they now esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work 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 Even wild beasts offer the breast, they give suck to their young ones: the daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.
Even jackals nurse their young at their breasts, but the women of my people have become cruel, like an ostrich in the desert.
4 The tongue of the suckling cleaveth to its palate by reason of thirst: babes ask for bread, there is not one to break it for 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 Those that used to eat dainty food are desolate in the streets: they that were reared up on scarlet now embrace dunghills.
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 For greater is the iniquity of the daughter of my people than the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as it were in a moment, and no human hands were laid on her.
Jerusalem's punishment is worse than sinful Sodom's, which was destroyed in a brief moment, without the help of human hands.
7 Her crowned princes were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were more brilliant in body than pearls, more than the sapphire, their countenance:
Her leaders were purer than snow, whiter than milk; their bodies were a healthier red than coral, and they shone like lapis lazuli.
8 Darker than black is now their visage; they are not to be recognized in the streets: their skin is shriveled fast upon their bones; it is dry, it is become like wood.
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 Happier are those slain by the sword than those slain by hunger; for those poured forth their blood, being pierced through, —[these perished] without 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 The hands of merciful women cooked their own children: they became food unto them in the downfall of the daughter of my people.
The hands of loving women have cooked their own children to eat during the destruction of Jerusalem.
11 The Lord hath let loose all his fury: he hath poured out the fierceness of his anger: and he hath kindled a fire in Zion, which hath 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 The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the world, would not believe that an adversary or an enemy could ever enter within 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 [But it hath happened] because of the sins of her prophets, the iniquities of her priests, that had shed in the midst of her the blood of the righteous.
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 They wandered about blindly in the streets, they became defiled with blood; so that men were not able to touch their garments.
They wandered like blind men through the streets, made unclean by this blood, so no one would touch their clothes.
15 Depart, ye unclean, they called out unto them: depart, depart, touch not. So they flee away and also wander about: men say among 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 The anger of the Lord hath divided them; he will no more look at them: the faces of the priests they respected not, and the elders they spared not.
The Lord himself has scattered them; he doesn't bother with them anymore. Nobody respects the priests, and nobody admires the leaders.
17 Even now our eyes anxiously wait for our valueless help: in our waiting have we waited for a nation that cannot help.
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 They hunt our steps, that we cannot walk in our streets: our end is near, our days are full: for our end 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 Swifter were our pursuers than the eagles of heaven: upon the mountains did they hotly follow us: in the wilderness did they lie in 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 The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord, was caught in their pits, he, of whom we said, Under his shadow shall we live among the nations.
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 Be glad and rejoice, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of 'Uz: also unto thee shall the cup pass; thou wilt be drunken, and make thyself naked.
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 Brought to an end is thy iniquity, O daughter of Zion; He will no more carry thee away into exile: He visiteth thy iniquity, O daughter of Edom; He layeth open thy 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.
