CHAPTER 4

1 How obscured is the gold! How changed is the fine gold! Cast forth have been the stones of the sanctuary At the head of all the streets

2 The precious sons of Sion, Clothed in gold, How they are counted as earthen pitchers, The work of the potter’s hands!

3 Even serpents draw out the breast, They suckle their young ones: The daughter of my people was cruel, Like the ostriches in the desert.

4 Cleave did the tongue of the suckling To the roof of his mouth for thirst; The little ones asked bread, No one divided to them.

5 They who fed on delicacies Perished in the streets; They who had been brought up in scarlet Embraced the dunghills:

6 And the punishment of the daughter of my people Has been greater than the punishment of Sodom, Which was overthrown as in a moment, And no strokes remained on her.

7 Purer were her Nazarites than snow, Whiter than milk; They were ruddy in their body, Above precious stones; Sapphire was their polish:

8 Darker than darkness became their form, They were not known in the streets; Cleave did their skin to their bones, It became dry as wood.

9 Better were the slain with the sword Than the slain with famine: They pined away, having been pierced through By the knits of the field.

10 The hands of compassionate mothers Boiled their own offspring; They became food for them, At the destruction of the daughter of my people.

11 Fulfilled has Jehovah his wrath; He poured forth the indignation of his wrath; And he kindled a fire in Sion, Which devoured her foundations.

12 They could not have believed, the kings of the earth, Nor all the inhabitants of the world, That enter would the adversary and the enemy Into the gates of Jerusalem.

13 For the sin of her prophets, The iniquities of her priests, Who shed in the midst of her The blood of the righteous, —

14 They wandered blind in the streets, They were polluted with blood; Because they could not But touch their garments.

15 Depart ye, “Unclean,” they cried to them, Depart, depart, come not near: Because they fled, and also wandered, They said among the Gentiles, “They shall not return to dwell;

16 The face of Jehovah hath divided them, He will no more regard them.” The face of the priests they respected not, And to the elders they shewed no mercy.

17 While we were yet standing, our eyes failed, As to our vain help; In our looking out we looked out To a nation that could not save us.

18 They hunted our steps, So that we could not walk in our streets; Draw near did our end, fulfilled were our days, Surely come did our end.

19 Swifter were our pursuers Than the eagles of heaven; On the mountains they followed us, They lay in wait for us in the desert.

20 The spirit of our nostrils, the anointer of Jehovah, Was taken in their snares; Of whom we said, “Under his shadow We shall live among the nations.”

21 Rejoice and be glad, thou daughter of Edom, Who dwellest in the land of Uz. To thee also shall the cup pass over, Thou shalt be inebriated and made naked.

22 Completed is thy punishment, O daughter of Sion, He will no more deliver thee into exile; He will visit thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom, And will uncover thy sin.