¹² Children^[a] say to their mothers,^[b]
“Where are food and drink?”^[c]
They faint^[d] like a wounded warrior
in the city squares.
They die slowly^[e]
in their mothers’ arms.^[f]

²¹ The young boys and old men
lie dead on the ground in the streets.
My young women^[a] and my young men
have fallen by the sword.
You killed them when you were angry;^[b]
you slaughtered them without mercy.^[c]

⁷ Our consecrated ones^[a] were brighter than snow,
whiter than milk;
their bodies more ruddy than corals,
their hair^[b] like lapis lazuli.^[c]

⁸ Now their appearance^[a] is darker than soot;
they are not recognized in the streets.
Their skin has shriveled on their bones;
it is dried up, like tree bark.

¹⁰ Our skin is as hot as an oven
due to a fever from hunger.^[a]