Lamentations 4

1How is the gold become dim! how is the most pure gold changed! The stones of the sanctuary are poured out at the head of every street.

1How the gold has lost its shine! How the finest gold has changed! The sacred stones of the temple lie scattered at every street corner.

2The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, How are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!

2The precious people of Zion, once worth their weight in fine gold, are now treated like cheap clay jars made by a potter.

3Even the jackals draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones: The daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.

3Even wild jackals offer their breasts to nurse their young, but my people have become cruel, like ostriches in the desert that abandon their eggs.

4The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst: The young children ask bread, and no man breaketh it unto them.

4The nursing infant’s tongue sticks to the roof of its mouth because of thirst; young children beg for bread, but no one gives them any.

5They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets: They that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.

5Those who used to eat rich food are now starving in the streets; those who grew up wearing expensive red clothes now huddle on trash heaps.

6For 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 upon her.

6The punishment of my people is greater than that of Sodom, which was destroyed in a single moment without any human hand touching her.

7Her nobles were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk; They were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was as of sapphire.

7Her leaders were once purer than snow and whiter than milk; their bodies were more healthy than rubies, and they looked as polished as sapphire.

8Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets: Their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick.

8Now they look blacker than soot; no one even recognizes them in the streets. Their skin shrivels on their bones; it has become as dry as wood.

9They that are slain with the sword are better than they that are slain with hunger; For these pine away, stricken through, for want of the fruits of the field.

9Those killed by the sword are better off than those dying of hunger, who waste away because there is no food from the fields.制

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

10With their own hands, women who were once compassionate have boiled their own children; these children became their food when my people were destroyed.

11Jehovah hath accomplished his wrath, he hath poured out his fierce anger; And he hath kindled a fire in Zion, which hath devoured the foundations thereof.

11The LORD has fully vented His rage; He has poured out His fierce anger. He started a fire in Zion that burned down to its very foundations.

12The kings of the earth believed not, neither all the inhabitants of the world, That the adversary and the enemy would enter into the gates of Jerusalem.

12The kings of the earth and everyone in the world did not believe that an enemy or an attacker could ever pass through the gates of Jerusalem.

13It isbecause of the sins of her prophets, andthe iniquities of her priests, That have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her.

13But it happened because of the sins of her prophets and the crimes of her priests, who shed the blood of innocent people within the city.

14They wander as blind men in the streets, they are polluted with blood, So that men cannot touch their garments.

14They wander through the streets like blind men, so stained with blood that no one dares to touch their clothes.

15Depart ye, they cried unto them, Unclean! depart, depart, touch not! When they fled away and wandered, men said among the nations, They shall no more sojourn here.

15'Go away! You are unclean!' people shouted at them. 'Get away! Get away! Don't touch us!' When they fled and wandered, people in other nations said, 'They can't stay here anymore.'

16The anger of Jehovah hath scattered them; he will no more regard them: They respected not the persons of the priests, they favored not the elders.

16The LORD Himself scattered them; He no longer looks after them. No respect is shown to the priests, and no favor is given to the elders.

17Our eyes do yet fail in looking for our vain help: In our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save.

17Our eyes strained, looking in vain for help that never came. From our watchtowers we kept looking for a nation that could not save us.

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

18Our enemies hunted us at every step, so we could not even walk in our own streets. Our end was near, our time was up; our destruction had come.

19Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the heavens: They chased us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness.

19Those who chased us were faster than eagles in the sky; they hunted us over the mountains and waited in ambush for us in the wilderness.

20The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of Jehovah, was taken in their pits; Of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the nations.

20The LORD’s anointed king, who was our very breath of life, was caught in their traps. We had said of him, 'Under his protection we will live among the nations.'

21Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Uz: The cup shall pass through unto thee also; thou shalt be drunken, and shalt make thyself naked.

21Go ahead and celebrate, people of Edom, you who live in the land of Uz! But the cup of God's anger will come to you, too; you will get drunk and strip yourself naked.制

22The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion; he will no more carry thee away into captivity: He will visit thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom; he will uncover thy sins.

22Daughter of Zion, your punishment is complete; He will not send you into exile again. But He will punish your sins, daughter of Edom, and expose your evil deeds.