Lamentations 4:1-22

How the gold has lost its luster! How the pure gold has lost its value! The sacred stones lie scattered at the corner of every street. The precious children of Zion, once worth their weight in the finest gold, are now regarded as jars of clay made by a potter’s hands. Even the vicious jackal is kind enough to nurse her young, but the daughter of my people is as cruel as the desert ostrich. The nursing babies have such thirst that their tongues stick to the roofs of their mouths. Little children ask for bread, but no one gives them a crumb. Those who used to feast on delicacies now lie dying in the streets. Those who were raised in luxury now huddle in garbage dumps. The punishment of my beloved people exceeded the judgment of sinful Sodom, which was suddenly destroyed without an army attacking her. Israel’s nobility was once brighter than snow, whiter than milk; their bodies glowed with health and glistened like jewels. Now their faces are emaciated; they are not even recognized in the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones, as dry as a stick. Better are those killed by the sword than those killed by famine. They slowly starve to death for lack of food. The hands of caring women cooked their own children; they became their food when my beloved people were destroyed. At the peak of YAHWEH’s wrath, he vented his fierce anger! He lit a fire in Zion and burned it down to the ground. No king believed, nor anyone anywhere, that a hostile foe could ever break through the gates of Jerusalem. Yet this happened because of the sins of her prophets and the crimes of her priests, who shed innocent blood in the heart of the city. They wandered blindly through the city and were so defiled with blood that no one dared to even touch their clothes. “Get away! Unclean!” people shouted at them. “Keep back! Keep back! Don’t touch!” So, they fled Jerusalem and wandered to the nations, but they were not welcome to stay there either. The face of YAHWEH scattered them; he will look on them no more. They had no respect for the priests, no honor for her leaders. We strained our eyes continually and looked, watching for help that never came. From our watchtowers we waited for a nation to help, for a nation that could not save us. Men stalked us so that we could not walk on our streets. Our end drew near, our time ran out, for our end had come. Our pursuers were swifter than eagles in the sky; they hunted us on the mountains and lay in ambush for us in the wilderness. They captured YAHWEH’s anointed leader, our king; the hope of our survival was caught in their traps. We thought that under his protective shadow we would live among the nations. Go ahead, you people of Edom and Uz, laugh on and be glad like nothing will happen to you! Your day is coming to drink from this cup; you will get drunk and stagger naked. Your punishment is over, fair daughter of Zion. YAHWEH will never send you away into exile again. But people of Edom, he will punish your wickedness and expose your sins.