¹ How is the gold become dim! how is the most fine gold changed! The hallowed stones are cast forth at the head of every street.

² The noble sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, How are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!

³ The very jackals reach forth the breast; they suckle their young; But the daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches of the desert.

⁴ The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst; Young children ask for bread, and no man breaketh it for them.

⁵ Those that fed on dainties are desolate in the streets; Those that have been brought up in scarlet embrace the dunghill.

⁶ The punishment of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of Sodom, Which was overthrown in a moment, though no hands came against her.

⁷ Her princes were purer than snow, whiter than milk; More ruddy than coral was their body; Their visage was of sapphire.

⁸ Now darker than a coal is their countenance; they are not known in the streets. Their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is become dry, like wood.

⁹ More fortunate are the slain by the sword than the slain by famine; For these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the field.

¹⁰ The hands of tender-hearted women cooked their own children; They were their food, in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

¹¹ Jehovah hath spent upon them his fury; he hath poured out his fierce anger; He hath kindled a fire in Zion, which hath devoured its foundations.

¹² The kings of the earth believed not, nor all the inhabitants of the world, That the adversary would enter, and the enemy, within the gates of Jerusalem.

¹³ It was on account of the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, Who shed in the midst of her the blood of the righteous.

¹⁴ They stumbled like blind men through the streets, polluted with blood, So that men could not touch their garments.

¹⁵ "Depart! unclean!" men cried to them. "Depart, depart, touch not!" As they fled, they stumbled; men said among the nations, "They shall dwell there no more."

¹⁶ The anger of Jehovah hath scattered them; he will no more care for them; They paid no regard to the priests, they had no compassion for the elders.

¹⁷ Still did our eyes fail, looking for help in vain; On our watch-tower did we watch for a nation that could not save us.

¹⁸ They laid snares for our steps, so that we could not go in our streets; Our end is near; our days are accomplished, yea, our end is come!

¹⁹ Swifter were our pursuers than the eagles of heaven; They chased us upon the mountains; they laid wait for us in the wilderness.

²⁰ The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of Jehovah, was taken in their pits, Under whose shadow we said that we should live among the nations.

²¹ Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Uz! Yet to thee also shall the cup come! thou shalt be drunken, and shalt expose thy nakedness.

²² Thy punishment is at an end, O daughter of Zion! no more will he carry thee into captivity; But thine iniquity will he punish, O daughter of Edom! he will uncover thy sins.