| Lam. 4:1 |
How the gold has become dim! / [How] the most pure gold has changed! / The stones of the sanctuary lie poured out / At the head of every street. |
| Lam. 4:2 |
The precious sons of Zion, / Comparable to fine gold, / How they are esteemed as earthen pitchers, / The work of the hands of a potter. |
| Lam. 4:3 |
Even the jackals present the breast; / They nurse their young ones; / [But] the daughter of my people has become cruel, / Like the ostriches in the wilderness. |
| Lam. 4:4 |
The tongue of the sucking child cleaves / To the roof of his mouth for thirst; / The little ones ask for bread, / [But] no one breaks [it] for them. |
| Lam. 4:5 |
Those who fed on delicacies / Are desolate in the streets; / Those who were brought up in scarlet / Embrace dung heaps. |
| Lam. 4:6 |
And the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater / Than the sin of Sodom, / Which was overthrown as in a moment; / And no hands were laid on her. |
| Lam. 4:7 |
Her nobles were purer than snow; / They were whiter than milk; / They were redder in body than corals; / Their figure was like sapphire. |
| Lam. 4:8 |
Their visage is darker than black [coal;] / They are not recognized in the streets. / Their skin has shriveled up on their bones; / It has dried up; it has become like wood. |
| Lam. 4:9 |
Those who were slain by the sword are better / Than those slain by famine; / For these pine away stricken through, / Because of the lack of the produce of the field. |
| Lam. 4:10 |
The hands of compassionate women / Have boiled their own children; / They have become their food / In the destruction of the daughter of my people. |
| Lam. 4:11 |
Jehovah has accomplished His wrath; / He has poured out His burning anger. / And He has kindled a fire in Zion, / And it has consumed its foundations. |
| Lam. 4:12 |
The kings of the earth did not believe, / Neither did any of the inhabitants of the world, / That the adversary and the enemy would enter / Into the gates of Jerusalem. |
| Lam. 4:13 |
It is because of the sins of her prophets, / [And] the iniquities of her priests, / Who have shed the blood of the righteous / In her midst. |
| Lam. 4:14 |
They have wandered about blind in the streets; / They are polluted with blood; / So that men cannot touch / Their garments. |
| Lam. 4:15 |
They cried out to them, Depart! Unclean! / Depart, depart; do not touch! / When they fled away and wandered about, men said among the nations, / They will no longer sojourn [there.] |
| Lam. 4:16 |
The anger of Jehovah has scattered them; / He will no longer regard them. / They did not honor the priests, / Nor did they favor the elders. |
| Lam. 4:17 |
Our eyes do yet fail, / [Looking] in vain for our help; / In our watching we watched / For a nation that could not save. |
| Lam. 4:18 |
They hunted our steps, / So that we cannot walk in our streets; / Our end drew near; our days were fulfilled; / For our end had come. |
| Lam. 4:19 |
Our pursuers were swifter / Than the eagles of heaven; / They hotly pursued us on the mountains; / They lay in wait for us in the wilderness. |
| Lam. 4:20 |
The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of Jehovah, / Has been captured in their pits, / Of whom we said, Under his shadow / We will live among the nations. |
| Lam. 4:21 |
Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, / Who dwells in the land of Uz. / [Yet] the cup will pass through to you also; / You will become drunk and make yourself naked. |
| Lam. 4:22 |
[The] [punishment for] your iniquity has been accomplished, O daughter of Zion; / He will no longer take you into exile. / [But] He will punish your iniquity, O daughter of Edom; / He will uncover your sins. |