Lamentations 4 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

How the gold has lost its shine, how the pure gold has changed! The sacred stones lie scattered at every street corner.

The precious children of Zion, once worth their weight in fine gold — how they're treated now like clay pots, the work of a potter's hands!

Even jackals offer their breast and nurse their young, but my people have become cruel — like ostriches in the desert.

The nursing baby's tongue sticks to the roof of its mouth from thirst. Small children beg for bread, but no one has any to give them.

Those who once ate the finest food now waste away in the streets. Those raised in luxury now dig through garbage heaps.

The punishment of my people is greater than the overthrow of Sodom, which was destroyed in an instant — no human hands were involved.

Her consecrated ones were purer than snow, whiter than milk. Their bodies were ruddier than coral, their appearance like sapphire.

But now their faces are blacker than soot; no one recognizes them in the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones; it has become as dry as wood.

Those killed by the sword were better off than those killed by hunger — who wasted away, pierced through by the emptiness of the fields.

With their own hands, compassionate women cooked their own children. They became their food during the destruction of my people.

Yahweh poured out the full measure of his fury; he unleashed his burning anger. He set a fire in Zion that consumed her down to the foundations.

No king on earth believed it — no one in all the world — that an enemy or attacker could enter the gates of Jerusalem.

It happened because of the failures of her prophets, the corruption of her priests, who shed the blood of the just right in the middle of the city.

They wandered blind through the streets, so defiled with blood that no one would dare touch their garments.

"Get away! Unclean!" people shouted at them. "Get away! Get away! Don't touch us!" So they fled and wandered. Even among the nations, people said, "They can't stay here."

Yahweh himself scattered them; he no longer watches over them. No one honors the priests anymore; no one shows respect to the elders.

Our eyes wore out, still watching in vain for help. From our towers we watched and watched for a nation that could not save us.

They tracked our every step so we couldn't walk in our own streets. Our end drew near, our days were numbered. Our end had come.

Our pursuers were faster than eagles in the sky. They chased us over the mountains and ambushed us in the desert.

The breath of our life — Yahweh's anointed one — was caught in their traps, the one we said, "Under his shadow we will live among the nations."

Celebrate and be glad, daughter of Edom, you who live in the land of Uz. But the cup will come to you too — you'll get drunk and strip yourself bare.

Your punishment is complete, daughter of Zion; he will not exile you again. But your corruption, daughter of Edom — he will deal with it; he will expose your failures.