Lamentations Chapter 4 Back Next{4:1} How the
gold has become dim! The most pure gold has changed! The stones of the sanctuary are poured out at the head of every street.
{4:2} The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, How are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!
{4:3} Even the jackals draw out the breast, they nurse their young ones: The daughter of my people has become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.
{4:4} The tongue of the nursing child clings to the roof of his mouth for thirst: The young children ask
bread, and no man breaks it to them.
{4:5} Those who fed delicately are desolate in the streets: Those who were brought up in scarlet embrace
dunghills.
{4:6} For the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the sin of Sodom, That was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands were laid on her.
{4:7} Her nobles were purer than snow, they were whiter than
milk; They were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was as of sapphire.
{4:8} Their appearance is blacker than a
coal; they are not known in the streets: Their skin clings to their bones; it is withered, it has become like a stick.
{4:9} Those who are killed with the sword are better than those who are killed with hunger; For these pine away, stricken through, for want of the
fruits of the
field.
{4:10} The hands of the pitiful women have boiled their own children; They were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
{4:11} Yahweh has accomplished his wrath, he has poured out his fierce anger; He has kindled a
fire in Zion, which has devoured its foundations.
{4:12} The kings of the earth didn't believe, neither all the inhabitants of the world, That the adversary and the enemy would enter into the
gates of
Jerusalem.
{4:13} It is because of the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, That have shed the
blood of the just in the midst of her.
{4:14} They wander as
blind men in the streets, they are polluted with blood, So that men can't touch their garments.
{4:15} Depart! They cried to them, Unclean! Depart, depart, don't touch! When they fled away and wandered, men said among the nations, They shall not live here any more.
{4:16} The anger of Yahweh has scattered them; he will no more regard them: They didn't respect the persons of the priests, they didn't favor the
elders.
{4:17} Our eyes still fail, looking in vain for our help: In our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save.
{4:18} They hunt our steps, so that we can't go in our streets: Our end is near, our days are fulfilled; for our end has come.
{4:19} Our pursuers were swifter than the
eagles of the sky: They chased us on the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness.
{4:20} The breath of our nostrils, the
anointed of Yahweh, was taken in their pits; Of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the nations.
{4:21} Rejoice and be glad, daughter of
Edom, that dwell in the land of Uz: The
cup shall pass through to you also; you shall be
drunken, and shall make yourself naked.
{4:22} The punishment of your iniquity is accomplished, daughter of Zion; he will no more carry you away into
captivity: He will visit your iniquity, daughter of Edom; he will uncover your sins.
Lamentations Chapter 4 Back Next