Lamentations 4:1-11

1How the gold has become tarnished, the fine gold become dull! The stones of the temple lie scattered at the head of every street.

2Zion’s precious children — once worth their weight in pure gold  — how they are regarded as clay jars, the work of a potter’s hands!

3Even jackals offer their breasts to nurse their young, but my dear people have become cruel like ostriches in the wilderness.

4The nursing baby’s tongue clings to the roof of his mouth from thirst. Infants beg for food, but no one gives them any.

5Those who used to eat delicacies are destitute in the streets; those who were reared in purple garments huddle in trash heaps.

6The punishment of my dear people is greater than that of Sodom, which was overthrown in an instant without a hand laid on it.

7Her dignitaries were brighter than snow, whiter than milk; their bodies were more ruddy than coral, their appearance like lapis lazuli.

8Now they appear darker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones; it has become dry like wood.

9Those slain by the sword are better off than those slain by hunger, who waste away, pierced with pain because the fields lack produce.

10The hands of compassionate women have cooked their own children; they became their food during the destruction of my dear people.

11The Lord has exhausted his wrath, poured out his burning anger; he has ignited a fire in Zion, and it has consumed her foundations.