⁴ The tongue of the infant sticks
    to the roof of its mouth for thirst;
the children beg for food,
    but there is nothing for them.^(A)

⁵ Those who feasted on delicacies
    perish in the streets;
those who were brought up in purple
    cling to ash heaps.

⁶ For the chastisement of my people has been greater
    than the punishment of Sodom,
which was overthrown in a moment,
    though no hand was laid on it.^[a](B)

⁷ Her princes were purer than snow,
    whiter than milk;
their bodies were more ruddy than coral,
    their form cut like sapphire.^[b](C)

⁸ Now their visage is blacker than soot;
    they are not recognized in the streets.
Their skin has shriveled on their bones;
    it has become as dry as wood.^(D)

⁹ Happier were those pierced by the sword
    than those pierced by hunger,
whose life drains away, deprived
    of the produce of the field.^(E)

¹⁰ The hands of compassionate women
    have boiled their own children;
they became their food
    in the destruction of my people.^(F)