Lamentations 4

1 [ALEPH-BET] How the gold has become dim, Changed the best—the pure gold! Stones of the sanctuary are poured out At the head of all out-places.

2 The precious sons of Zion, Who are comparable with fine gold, How they have been reckoned earthen bottles, Work of the hands of a potter.

3 Even dragons have drawn out the breast, They have suckled their young ones, The daughter of my people has become cruel, Like the ostriches in a wilderness.

4 The tongue of a suckling has cleaved to his palate with thirst, Infants asked for bread, they have no dealer [of it] out.

5 Those eating of delicacies have been desolate in out-places, Those supported on scarlet have embraced dunghills.

6 And greater is the iniquity of the daughter of my people, Than the sin of Sodom, That was overturned as [in] a moment, And no hands were stayed on her.

7 Purer were her Nazarites than snow, Whiter than milk, ruddier of body than rubies, Of sapphire their form.

8 Their face has been darker than blackness, They have not been known in out-places, Their skin has cleaved to their bone, It has withered—it has been as wood.

9 Better have been the pierced of a sword Than the pierced of famine, For these flow away, pierced through, Without the increase of the field.

10 The hands of merciful women have boiled their own children, They have been for food to them, In the destruction of the daughter of my people.

11 YHWH has completed His fury, He has poured out the fierceness of His anger, And He kindles a fire in Zion, And it devours her foundations.

12 The kings of earth did not believe, And any of the inhabitants of the world, That an adversary and enemy would come Into the gates of Jerusalem.

13 Because of the sins of her prophets, The iniquities of her priests, Who are shedding in her midst the blood of the righteous,

14 They have wandered naked in out-places, They have been defiled with blood, Without [any] being able to touch their clothing,

15 “Turn aside—unclean,” they called to them, “Turn aside, turn aside, do not touch,” For they fled—indeed, they have wandered, They have said among nations: “They do not add to sojourn.”

16 The face of YHWH has divided them, He does not add to behold them, They have not lifted up the face of priests, They have not favored [the] old and elderly.

17 While we exist—consumed are our eyes for our vain help, In our watchtower we have watched for a nation [that] does not save.

18 They have hunted our steps from going in our broad-places, Near has been our end, fulfilled our days, For our end has come.

19 Swifter have been our pursuers, Than the eagles of the heavens, On the mountains they have burned [after] us, In the wilderness they have laid wait for us.

20 The breath of our nostrils—the anointed of YHWH, Has been captured in their pits, of whom we said: “We live among nations in his shadow.”

21 Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, Dwelling in the land of Uz, Even to you a cup passes over, You are drunk, and make yourself naked.

22 Completed [is] your iniquity, daughter of Zion, He does not add to remove you, He has inspected your iniquity, O daughter of Edom, He has removed [you] because of your sins!