Lamentations 4:1-13

See how the gold has lost its shine, how the pure gold has dulled! The stones of the Temple are scattered at every street corner. The precious people of Jerusalem were more valuable than gold, but now they are thought of as clay jars made by the hands of a potter. Even wild dogs give their milk to feed their young, but my people are cruel like ostriches in the desert. The babies are so thirsty their tongues stick to the roofs of their mouths. Children beg for bread, but no one gives them any. Those who once ate fine foods are now starving in the streets. People who grew up wearing nice clothes now pick through trash piles. My people have been punished more than Sodom was. Sodom was destroyed suddenly, and no hands reached out to help her. Our princes were purer than snow, and whiter than milk. Their bodies were redder than rubies; they looked like sapphires. But now they are blacker than coal, and no one recognizes them in the streets. Their skin hangs on their bones; it is as dry as wood. Those who were killed in the war were better off than those killed by hunger. They starve in pain and die, because there is no food from the field. With their own hands kind women cook their own children. They became food when my people were destroyed. The LORD turned loose all of his anger; he poured out his strong anger. He set fire to Jerusalem, burning it down to the foundations. Kings of the earth and people of the world could not believe that enemies and foes could enter the gates of Jerusalem. It happened because her prophets sinned and her priests did evil. They killed in the city those who did what was right.