Lamentations 4  Modern English Version

² The precious sons of Zion,
    comparable to fine gold,
how they are esteemed as earthen pots,
    the work of a potter’s hands!

³ Even the jackals offer the breast;
    they nurse their young,
yet the daughter of my people has become cruel,
    like ostriches in the wilderness.

⁴ The tongue of the infant cleaves
    to the roof of his mouth for thirst;
the children beg for bread,
    but no one divides it for them.

⁵ Those who once ate delicacies
    are desolate in the streets;
those who were brought up in scarlet
    embrace ash heaps.

⁶ For the iniquity of the daughter of my people
    is greater than the sin of Sodom,
which was overthrown in a moment,
    and no hands were wrung for her.

⁷ Her princes were purer than snow,
    whiter than milk;
their bodies were more ruddy than rubies,
    their appearance like sapphire.

⁸ Their form is blacker than coal;
    they are not recognized in the streets;
their skin cleaves to their bones,
    it has become as dry as wood.

⁹ Those killed by the sword
    are better off than those who die of hunger,
for they pine away,
    stricken for want of the fruits of the field.

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

¹¹ The Lord has fulfilled His fury,
    He has poured out His fierce anger.
He kindled a fire in Zion,
    and it has devoured its foundations.

¹² The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the world,
    would not have believed
that the adversary and the enemy could enter
    the gates of Jerusalem.

¹³ This was for the sins of her prophets
    and the iniquities of her priests,
who poured out in her midst the blood of the righteous.

¹⁴ They wandered,
    blind, in the streets;
they have defiled themselves with blood,
    so that no one could touch their garments.

¹⁵ They cried out to them, “Depart! Unclean!
    Depart, depart, do not touch us!”
Therefore they fled and wandered;
    men among the nations said,
    “They shall live with us no longer.”

¹⁶ The presence of the Lord scattered them;
    He will regard them no more;
they do not respect the priests,
    nor show favor to the elders.

¹⁷ Our eyes failed us,
    watching vainly for help;
in our watchtowers we watched
    for a nation that could not save us.

¹⁸ They tracked our steps
    so that we could not walk in our streets.
Our end drew near; our days were numbered,
    for our end had come.

¹⁹ Our pursuers were swifter
    than the eagles of the skies.
They pursued us on the mountains;
    they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.

²⁰ The breath of our life, the anointed king of the Lord,
    was captured in their traps,
of whom we said, “Under his shadow
    we shall live among the nations.”

²¹ Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom,
    you who dwell in the land of Uz!
The cup shall also pass to you;
    you shall become drunk and strip yourself bare.

²² The punishment of your iniquity, O daughter of Zion, is accomplished;
    He shall exile you no longer.
He shall punish your iniquity, O daughter of Edom;
    He will expose your sins!