Lamentations 4:4-9

English Standard Version

⁴ The tongue of the nursing infant ^(A)sticks
    to the roof of its mouth for thirst;
^(B)the children beg for food,
    but no one gives to them.

⁵ Those who once feasted on delicacies
    perish in the streets;
^(C)those who were brought up in purple
    embrace ash heaps.

^6 (D)For the chastisement^[a] of the daughter of my people has been greater
    than the punishment^[b] of Sodom,
^(E)which was overthrown in a moment,
    and no hands were wrung for her.^[c]

⁷ Her princes were purer than snow,
    whiter than milk;
their bodies were more ruddy than coral,
    the beauty of their form^[d] was like sapphire.^[e]

^8 (F)Now their face 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.

⁹ Happier were the victims of the sword
    than the victims of hunger,
who wasted away, pierced
    by lack of the fruits of the field.