4 How the gold has grown dim,
the pure gold has changed.
The stones of holiness are scattered
    at the head of every street.
² The precious sons of Zion
    weighed against fine gold,
how they are thought of as earthen vessels of clay,
    the work of the potter’s hands.
³ Even the jackal bears the beast
    and nurses their cubs;
but the daughter of my people has become ruthless,
    like ostriches in the wilderness.
⁴ The tongue of the nursling cleaves
    to its palate in thirst.
Children beg for food,
    no one lays it out before them.^[a]
5 The ones who eat delicacies,
    they are ruined in the streets;
the ones nurtured in purple
    lie on piles of trash.
⁶ The iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater
    than the sin of Sodom;
it was overthrown in a moment
    and no hands were laid on her.
⁷ Her princes were purer than snow,
    they were whiter than milk;
their bodies were more ruddy than rubies,
    sapphire their appearance.
⁸ Now their appearance is blacker than soot,
    they are not recognized in the streets;
their skin has shriveled on their bones,
    it has become dry like wood.
⁹ Happier were the victims of the sword
    than the victims of famine;
they have pined away, very hungry
    for the crops of my field.
¹⁰ The hands of compassionate women,
    have cooked their children;
they became as something to eat
    in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
¹¹ Yahweh has completed his anger,
    he has poured out his fierce anger;^[b]
he has kindled a fire in Zion,
    it consumed her^[c] foundations.
¹² The kings of the earth did not believe,
    and all the inhabitants of the world,
that a foe and an enemy could enter
    into the gates of Jerusalem.
¹³ Because of the sins of her prophets,
    the guilt of her priests,
who shed blood in her midst,
    of righteous people.
¹⁴ They wander blindly in the streets;
    they were defiled with the blood,
their clothes
    could not be touched.
¹⁵ “Go away! Defiled!” they shout to them.
    “Go away! Go away! Do not touch!”
so they left, they left; it was said among the nations,
    “They will no longer dwell with us.”^[d]
16 The presence of Yahweh has scattered them,
    he will no longer watch over them;
they did not honor the priests,^[e]
    they did not show mercy to elders.
¹⁷ Still our eyes failed,
    looking for our help in vain;
in our watchtower, we kept watch
    for a nation that could not save.
¹⁸ They hunted our steps,
    from walking in our streets;
our end has come near, our days are finished,^[f]
    our end has come.
¹⁹ Our pursuers were swifter
    than the eagles of the heavens;
they chased us on the mountains,
    they have set an ambush for us in the desert.
²⁰ The breath of our nostrils, the anointed one of Yahweh,
    was captured in their pits;
of whom we said, “In his shadow
    we will live among the nations.”
²¹ Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom,
    you who dwell in the land of Uz;
but to you also the cup will pass,
    you will become drunk and strip yourself bare.
²² The punishment of your iniquity is completed, O daughter of Zion,
    your exile will not continue;
but he will punish your iniquity, O daughter of Edom,
    he will reveal your sins.