LAMENTATIONS 4



La 4:1 How the gold has become dim! / How the most pure gold has changed! / The stones of the sanctuary lie poured out / At the head of every street.

La 4:2 The precious sons of Zion, / Comparable to fine gold, / How they are esteemed as earthen pitchers, / The work of the hands of a potter.

La 4:3 Even the jackals present the breast; / They nurse their young ones; / But the daughter of my people has become cruel, / Like the ostriches in the wilderness.

La 4:4 The tongue of the sucking child cleaves / To the roof of his mouth for thirst; / The little ones ask for bread, / But no one breaks it for them.

La 4:5 Those who fed on delicacies / Are desolate in the streets; / Those who were brought up in scarlet / Embrace dung heaps.

La 4:6 And the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater / Than the sin of Sodom, / Which was overthrown as in a moment; / And no hands were laid on her.

La 4:7 Her nobles were purer than snow; / They were whiter than milk; / They were redder in body than corals; / Their figure was like sapphire.

La 4:8 Their visage is darker than black coal; / They are not recognized in the streets. / Their skin has shriveled up on their bones; / It has dried up; it has become like wood.

La 4:9 Those who were slain by the sword are better / Than those slain by famine; / For these pine away stricken through, / Because of the lack of the produce of the field.

La 4:10 The hands of compassionate women / Have boiled their own children; / They have become their food / In the destruction of the daughter of my people.

La 4:11 Jehovah has accomplished His wrath; / He has poured out His burning anger. / And He has kindled a fire in Zion, / And it has consumed its foundations.

La 4:12 The kings of the earth did not believe, / Neither did any of the inhabitants of the world, / That the adversary and the enemy would enter / Into the gates of Jerusalem.

La 4:13 It is because of the sins of her prophets, / And the iniquities of her priests, / Who have shed the blood of the righteous / In her midst.

La 4:14 They have wandered about blind in the streets; / They are polluted with blood; / So that men cannot touch / Their garments.

La 4:15 They cried out to them, Depart! Unclean! / Depart, depart; do not touch! / When they fled away and wandered about, men said among the nations, / They will no longer sojourn there.

La 4:16 The anger of Jehovah has scattered them; / He will no longer regard them. / They did not honor the priests, / Nor did they favor the elders.

La 4:17 Our eyes do yet fail, / Looking in vain for our help; / In our watching we watched / For a nation that could not save.

La 4:18 They hunted our steps, / So that we cannot walk in our streets; / Our end drew near; our days were fulfilled; / For our end had come.

La 4:19 Our pursuers were swifter / Than the eagles of heaven; / They hotly pursued us on the mountains; / They lay in wait for us in the wilderness.

La 4:20 The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of Jehovah, / Has been captured in their pits, / Of whom we said, Under his shadow / We will live among the nations.

La 4:21 Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, / Who dwells in the land of Uz. / Yet the cup will pass through to you also; / You will become drunk and make yourself naked.

La 4:22 The punishment for your iniquity has been accomplished, O daughter of Zion; / He will no longer take you into exile. / But He will punish your iniquity, O daughter of Edom; / He will uncover your sins.

Lamentations 3 Lamentations 5

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