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The Punishment of Jerusalem

The Prophet Speaks:

The purest gold is ruined
    and has lost its shine;
jewels from the temple
    lie scattered in the streets.
These are Zion's people,
    worth more than purest gold;
yet they are counted worthless
    like dishes of clay.

Even jackals[a] nurse their young,
but my people are like ostriches
    that abandon their own.

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Footnotes

  1. 4.3 jackals: Desert animals related to wolves, but smaller.

[a]How the gold has lost its luster,
    the fine gold become dull!
The sacred gems are scattered
    at every street corner.(A)

How the precious children of Zion,(B)
    once worth their weight in gold,
are now considered as pots of clay,
    the work of a potter’s hands!

Even jackals offer their breasts
    to nurse their young,
but my people have become heartless
    like ostriches in the desert.(C)

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Footnotes

  1. Lamentations 4:1 This chapter is an acrostic poem, the verses of which begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.