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Her [a]nobles were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk;
They were more ruddy in body than [b]rubies, their polishing was as of sapphire.
Their visage is [c]blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets:
Their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick.
They that are slain with the sword are better than they that are slain with hunger;
For these [d]pine away, stricken through, for want of the fruits of the field.

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Footnotes

  1. Lamentations 4:7 Or, Nazirites
  2. Lamentations 4:7 Or, corals
  3. Lamentations 4:8 Hebrew darker than blackness.
  4. Lamentations 4:9 Hebrew flow away.

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

But now they are blacker(A) than soot;
    they are not recognized in the streets.
Their skin has shriveled on their bones;(B)
    it has become as dry as a stick.

Those killed by the sword are better off
    than those who die of famine;(C)
racked with hunger, they waste away
    for lack of food from the field.(D)

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