Lamentations 4

How the gold has grown dim, how the fine gold has changed!
The holy stones lie scattered at the head of every street. The precious sons of Zion, worth their weight in fine gold—how they are regarded as clay jars, the work of a potter’s hands! Even jackals offer the breast and nurse their young, but the daughter of my people has become cruel, like ostriches in the wilderness. The nursing infant’s tongue clings to the roof of his mouth from thirst.
Little children ask for bread, but no one breaks it for them. Those who ate delicacies lie desolate in the streets;
those raised in scarlet embrace refuse heaps. The punishment of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment, with no hands acting against her. Her consecrated ones were purer than snow, whiter than milk, ruddier in body than coral;
their form was like sapphire. Now their appearance is blacker than soot;
they are not recognized in the streets.
Their skin clings to their bones;
it is dry as wood. Those slain by the sword are better off than those slain by hunger, who waste away, pierced through for lack of the field’s produce. The hands of compassionate women have cooked their own children.
They became their food during the destruction of the daughter of my people. The LORD has spent his wrath and poured out his burning anger.
He kindled a fire in Zion that consumed her foundations. The kings of the earth and all the inhabitants of the world did not believe that foe and enemy could enter the gates of Jerusalem. This was because of the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, who shed the blood of the righteous in her midst. They wandered blind in the streets, defiled with blood, so that no one could touch their clothes. “Away! Unclean!”
people cried to them.
“Away!
Away!
Do not touch!”
So they fled and wandered.
Among the nations people said, “They shall no longer reside here.” The face of the LORD has scattered them;
he will no longer look upon them.
They showed no respect to priests and no favor to elders. Our eyes still failed, looking in vain for help.
From our watch we watched for a nation that could not save. They hunted our steps so that we could not walk in our squares.
Our end drew near;
our days were fulfilled, for our end had come. Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the heavens.
They chased us on the mountains and lay in wait for us in the wilderness. The breath of our nostrils, the LORD’s anointed, was caught in their pits, the one of whom we said, “In his shadow we will live among the nations.” Rejoice and be glad, daughter Edom, dwelling in the land of Uz!
The cup will pass to you too;
you will become drunk and strip yourself naked. Your punishment is complete, daughter Zion;
he will not exile you again.
He will punish your iniquity, daughter Edom, and expose your sins.

Rights and attribution