Lamentations 4
1 How is dimmed the gold! changed the most fine gold! Poured out are the stones of the sanctuary, 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 precious sons of Zion, they who were weighed against pure gold, How are they accounted 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 wild dogs, draw out the breast, give suck to their whelps—The daughter of my people, hath become cruel, like the ostriches in the desert.
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 suckling, cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst, —Young children, have asked bread, there was none, to break, it to 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 who used to eat delicacies, are deserted in the streets, —They who used to be carried on crimson, have embraced heaps of refuse.
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 daughter of my people hath grown greater than the punishment of Sodom, —which was overthrown as in a moment, when no hands had been laid violently 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 Purer were her Nazirites than snow, whiter were they than milk, —more ruddy, in body, than coral, A sapphire, was their beauty of form.
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 Darker than a coal, is their visage, They are not known in the streets—Their skin shrivelleth on their bones, is withered, 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 Better are the slain of the sword, than the slain of the famine, —for, these, pine away, stricken through, wanting the produce 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 compassionate women, have cooked their own children, —they have served as nourishment to them, in the grievous injury 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 Yahweh hath completed his indignation, hath poured out the glow of his anger; and hath kindled a fire in Zion, which hath devoured her foundations.
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 Neither the kings of the earth, nor any of the inhabitants of the world, believed, that an adversary or an enemy, should enter, 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, the iniquities of her priests, —who have been pouring out, in her midst, the blood of the righteous!
[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 have wandered—blind—in the streets, have defiled themselves with blood; so that men may 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 Turn aside! Unclean! have they cried to them, Turn aside! Turn aside! Do not touch! because they have fled, yea, wandered, Men said among the nations, They will not again tarry;
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 Yahweh, hath scattered them, He will look them out no more: The persons of the priests, they have not respected, To the elders, have they shown no favour.
It is Yahweh himself who has scattered them; he no longer is concerned about them. People do not respect [our] priests or leaders.
17 Silly shall our eyes fail, for our help that is vain: In our watchtower, have we watched—for a nation that will 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 have laid snares for our steps, that we cannot walk in our own broadways: Drawn near hath our end, Fulfilled are our days, yea arrived hath our end.
[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 Swifter are our pursuers, than the eagles of the heavens, —Over the mountains, have they come hotly after us, In the wilderness, have they lain in wait for us.
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 fragrance of our nostrils, The Anointed of Yahweh, hath been captured in their pits, —of whom we had said—In his shade, shall we 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, O daughter of Edom, thou inhabitress in the and of Uz, —Even unto thee, shall the cup pass along, thou shalt be drunken, and expose thy shame.
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 Completed is thy punishment, O daughter of Zion, He will no more carry thee away captive—He hath punished thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom, he hath stripped the veil from off 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.
