Lamentations 4
Common English Bible
The people’s suffering
4 Oh, no!
Gold is tarnished;[a] even the purest gold is changed.
Sacred jewels are scattered on every street corner.
2 Zion’s precious children, once valued as pure gold—
oh no!—now they are worth no more than clay pots made by a potter.
3 Even jackals offer the breast; they nurse their young.
But the daughter of my people has become cruel, like desert ostriches.
4 The baby’s tongue sticks to the roof of its mouth, thirsty.
Children ask for bread, beg for it—but there is no bread.
5 Those who once ate gourmet food now tremble in the streets.
Those who wore the finest purple clothes now cling to piles of garbage.
6 Greater was the punishment[b] of the daughter of my people than Sodom’s penalty,[c]
which was quickly overthrown without any hand-wringing.[d]
7 Her nazirites were purer than snow; they were more dazzling than milk.
Their limbs were redder than coral; their bodies were sapphire.
8 But their appearance grew darker than soot; they weren’t recognized in the streets.
Their skin shriveled on their bones; it became dry like wood.
9 Things were better for those stabbed by the sword than for those stabbed by famine—
those who bled away, pierced, lacking food from the field.
10 The hands of loving women boiled their own children
to become their food during the destruction of the daughter of my people.
11 The Lord let loose his fury; he poured out his fierce anger.
He started a fire in Zion; it licked up its foundations.
12 The earth’s rulers didn’t believe it—neither did any who inhabit the world—
that either enemy or adversary could enter Jerusalem’s gates.
13 It was because of her prophets’ sins, her priests’ iniquities,
those who shed righteous blood in the middle of the city.
14 People wandered blindly in the streets, polluted with blood.
No one would even touch their clothing.
15 “Go away! Unclean!” was shouted at them, “Go away! Away! Don’t touch!”
So they fled and wandered around. The nations said, “They can’t stay here anymore.”
16 It was the Lord’s presence that scattered them;[e] he no longer notices them.
They didn’t honor the priests’ presence; they didn’t favor the elders.
17 Our eyes continually failed, looking for some help, but for nothing.
From our watchtower we watched for a nation that doesn’t save.
18 Our steps were tracked; we could no longer walk in our streets.
Our end had drawn near; our days were done—our end had definitely come.
19 Our hunters were faster than airborne eagles.
They chased us up the mountains; they ambushed us in the wilderness.
20 The Lord’s chosen one, the very breath in our lungs, was caught in their traps—
the one we used to talk about, saying, “Under his protection we will live among the nations.”
21 Rejoice and be happy, Daughter Edom, you who live in the land of Uz.
But this cup will pass over to you too. You will get drunk on it. You will be stripped naked.
22 Your punishment[f] is over, Daughter Zion; God won’t expose you anymore.
But he will attend to your punishment, Daughter Edom; he will expose your sins.
Footnotes
- Lamentations 4:1 Heb uncertain
- Lamentations 4:6 Or iniquity
- Lamentations 4:6 Or sin
- Lamentations 4:6 Heb uncertain
- Lamentations 4:16 Heb uncertain
- Lamentations 4:22 Or iniquity
Lamentations 4
King James Version
4 How is the gold become dim! how is the most fine gold changed! the stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of every street.
2 The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!
3 Even the sea monsters draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones: the daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.
4 The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst: the young children ask bread, and no man breaketh it unto them.
5 They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets: they that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.
6 For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands stayed on her.
7 Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was of sapphire:
8 Their visage is 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.
9 They that be slain with the sword are better than they that be slain with hunger: for these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the field.
10 The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
11 The Lord hath accomplished his fury; he hath poured out his fierce anger, and hath kindled a fire in Zion, and it hath devoured the foundations thereof.
12 The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the world, would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy should have entered into the gates of Jerusalem.
13 For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her,
14 They have wandered as blind men in the streets, they have polluted themselves with blood, so that men could not touch their garments.
15 They cried unto them, Depart ye; it is unclean; depart, depart, touch not: when they fled away and wandered, they said among the heathen, They shall no more sojourn there.
16 The anger of the Lord hath divided them; he will no more regard them: they respected not the persons of the priests, they favoured not the elders.
17 As for us, our eyes as yet failed for our vain help: in our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save us.
18 They hunt our steps, that we cannot go in our streets: our end is near, our days are fulfilled; for our end is come.
19 Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the heaven: they pursued us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness.
20 The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord, was taken in their pits, of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the heathen.
21 Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Uz; the cup also shall pass through unto thee: thou shalt be drunken, and shalt make thyself naked.
22 The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion; he will no more carry thee away into captivity: he will visit thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom; he will discover thy sins.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible