Lamentations 4:1-12

New American Standard Bible

4 How ^(A)dark the gold has become,
How the pure gold has changed!
The sacred stones are spilled out
At the ^[a]corner of every street.
² The precious sons of Zion,
Weighed against pure gold,
How they are regarded as ^(B)earthenware jars,
The work of a potter’s hands!
³ Even ^(C)jackals offer the breast,
They nurse their young;
But the daughter of my people has proved herself ^(D)cruel,
Like ^(E)ostriches in the wilderness.
⁴ The ^(F)tongue of the infant clings
To the roof of its mouth because of ^(G)thirst;
The children ^(H)ask for bread,
But no one breaks it for them.
⁵ Those who used to eat ^(I)delicacies
Are made to tremble in the streets;
Those who were raised in crimson clothing
Embrace garbage heaps.
⁶ For the ^[b]wrongdoing of the daughter of my people
Is greater than the ^[c](J)sin of Sodom,
Which was ^(K)overthrown as in a moment,
^[d]And no hands were turned toward her.
⁷ Her ^[e]consecrated ones were ^(L)purer than snow,
They shined more than milk;
They were more ruddy in ^[f]body than pearls of coral,
Their form was like ^[g](M)lapis lazuli.
⁸ Their appearance is ^(N)darker than soot,
They are not recognized in the streets;
Their ^(O)skin is shriveled on their bones,
It is dry, it has become like wood.
⁹ Better off are those ^(P)killed by the sword
Than those killed by hunger;
For they ^[h](Q)waste away, ^[i]stricken
By the lack of the produce of the field.
¹⁰ The hands of compassionate women
^(R)Boiled their own children;
They became ^(S)food for them
Due to the destruction of the daughter of my people.
¹¹ The Lord has ^(T)expended His wrath,
He has poured out His fierce anger;
And He has ^(U)kindled a fire in Zion,
And it has consumed its foundations.
¹² The kings of the earth did not believe,
Nor did any of ^(V)the inhabitants of the world,
That the adversary and the enemy
Would ^(W)enter the gates of Jerusalem.