Lamentations 4

Revised Geneva Translation

4 How dim the gold has become? The most fine gold has changed. The stones of the Sanctuary are scattered in the corner of every street.

² The noble men of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how they are regarded as earthen pitchers, the work of the potter’s hands!

³ Even the dragons present their breasts to nurse their young; but the daughter of my people has become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.

⁴ The tongue of the infant child clings to the roof of his mouth for thirst. The young children ask for bread, but no one breaks it for them.

⁵ Those who fed on delicacies perish in the streets. Those who were brought up in scarlet embrace the dung.

⁶ For the iniquity of the daughter of my people has become greater than the sin of Sodom, which was destroyed in a moment with no hand raised.

⁷ Her Nazirites were purer than the snow, whiter than milk. They were more ruddy in body than the red precious stones. They were polished sapphire.

⁸ Now, their visage is blacker than coal. They are unrecognizable in the streets. Their skin clings to their bones. It is withered, like a stick.

⁹ Those who are killed with the sword are better than those who are killed with hunger. For they fade away, stricken through by the fruits of the field.

¹⁰ The hands of the pitiful women have boiled their own children, which were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

¹¹ The LORD has accomplished His indignation. He has poured out His fierce wrath. He has kindled a fire in Zion, which has devoured its foundations.

¹² The kings of the Earth, and all the inhabitants of the world, would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy could have entered into the gates of Jerusalem,

¹³ because of the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, who have shed the blood of the just in her midst.

¹⁴ They have wandered like blind men in the streets. And they were polluted with blood, so that they would not touch their garments.

¹⁵ They cried to them, “Depart, you polluted! Depart! Depart! Do not touch!” Therefore, they fled away and wandered. They have said among the heathen, “They shall no longer dwell there.”

¹⁶ The anger of the LORD has scattered them. He will no longer regard them. They did not respect the face of the Priest, nor have compassion on the elders.

¹⁷ While we waited in vain for help, our eyes failed. For in our waiting we looked for a nation that could not save us.

¹⁸ They hunt our steps, so that we cannot walk in our streets. Our end is near. Our days are fulfilled, for our end has come.

¹⁹ Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the sky. They pursued us upon the mountains and laid in wait for us in the wilderness.

²⁰ The breath of our nostrils, the Anointed of the LORD, was taken in their nets, of whom we said, “Under his shadow we shall be preserved alive among the heathen.”

²¹ Rejoice and be glad, O daughter Edom, who dwells in the land of Uz! The cup shall also pass through to you. You shall be drunk and vomit.

²² Your punishment is accomplished, O daughter Zion! He will no longer carry you away into captivity. He will visit your iniquity, O daughter Edom! He will discover your sins!