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All who ate expensive foods
    lie starving in the streets;
those who grew up in luxury
    now sit on trash heaps.

(A) My nation was punished worse
    than the people of Sodom,
whose city was destroyed
in a flash without the help
    of human hands.[a]
The leaders of Jerusalem
were purer than snow
    and whiter than milk;
their bodies were healthy
    and glowed like jewels.[b]

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Footnotes

  1. 4.6 hands: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 6.
  2. 4.7 jewels: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 7.

Those who once ate delicacies
    are destitute in the streets.
Those brought up in royal purple(A)
    now lie on ash heaps.(B)

The punishment of my people
    is greater than that of Sodom,(C)
which was overthrown in a moment
    without a hand turned to help her.

Their princes were brighter than snow
    and whiter than milk,
their bodies more ruddy than rubies,
    their appearance like lapis lazuli.

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