30 “But now they ^(A)laugh at me,
    men who are ^(B)younger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
    to set with the dogs of my flock.
² What could I gain from the strength of their hands,
    ^(C)men whose ^(D)vigor is gone?
³ Through want and hard hunger
    they ^(E)gnaw ^(F)the dry ground by night in ^(G)waste and desolation;
⁴ they pick saltwort and the leaves of bushes,
    and the roots of the broom tree for their food.^[a]
5 (H)They are driven out from human company;
    they shout after them as after a thief.
⁶ In the gullies of the torrents they must dwell,
    in holes of the earth and of ^(I)the rocks.
⁷ Among the bushes they ^(J)bray;
    under ^(K)the nettles they huddle together.

⁵ Thus says the Lord concerning ^(A)the prophets
    who lead my people astray,
^(B)who cry “Peace”
    when they have something to eat,
but declare war against him
    who puts nothing into their mouths.

⁹ Happier were the victims of the sword
    than the victims of hunger,
who wasted away, pierced
    by lack of the fruits of the field.

^10 (A)The hands of ^(B)compassionate women
    ^(C)have boiled their own children;
^(D)they became their food
    during the destruction of the daughter of my people.

⁴ The tongue of the nursing infant ^(A)sticks
    to the roof of its mouth for thirst;
^(B)the children beg for food,
    but no one gives to them.

⁵ Those who once feasted on delicacies
    perish in the streets;
^(C)those who were brought up in purple
    embrace ash heaps.