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4:1  How the gold has become tarnished, how the pure gold has lost its luster! The sacred stones lie scattered at every street corner.
4:2  The precious sons of Zion were formerly worth their weight in gold. Now they are reckoned as no more valuable than clay jars fashioned by a potter.
4:3  Even jackals bare their breasts and nurse their young. But the daughters of my people have become as cruel as ostriches in the desert.
4:4  The tongue of an infant sticks to the roof of its mouth in thirst. Little children beg for bread, but no one offers them a crumb.
4:5  Those who once feasted on delicacies now lie dying in the streets. Those who once wore purple garments now grovel in rubbish heaps.
4:6  The punishment inflicted on my people has been greater than that of Sodom, which was overthrown in an instant without a hand being lifted to help her.
4:7  Her princes were once brighter than snow and whiter than milk. Their bodies were more ruddy than coral, more precious than sapphire.
4:8  Now their faces are blacker than soot, and no one recognizes them in the streets. Their skin has shriveled tightly over their bones, as dry as a stick.
4:9  More blessed were those who died by the sword than those who died of hunger, with their limbs wasting away, deprived of the produce of the field.
4:10  With their own hands, compassionate women have boiled their own children; those offspring became their food when my people were on the verge of extinction,
4:11  The Lord let his blazing anger pour forth and gave full vent to his wrath as he kindled a fire in Zion that devoured her foundations.
4:12  The kings of the earth never believed, nor did any of the inhabitants of the world, that any adversary or enemy could ever penetrate the gates of Jerusalem.
4:13  That occurred because of the sins of her prophets and the crimes of her priests who had shed within her walls the blood of the righteous.
4:14  They staggered blindly in the streets, so defiled with blood that not one of the people dared to touch their garments.
4:15  “Go away! You are unclean!” the people shouted. “Keep away! Do not touch us!” Wherever they fled, the people would cry out, “You cannot stay here any longer!”
4:16  The Lord himself scattered them; he no longer watches over them. He showed no favor to the priests or kindness to the elders.
4:17  Continually we strained our eyes, looking in vain for help. From our towers we watched endlessly for a nation that could not save us.
4:18  Men dogged our steps so that we were unable to walk in our streets. Our end drew near; our days were numbered; our time had come.
4:19  Our pursuers were swifter than eagles in the heavens. They hounded us over the mountains and lay in ambush for us in the wilderness.
4:20  The Lord’s anointed, our breath of life, was caught in their traps, he in whose shadow we thought that we could live in safety among the nations.
4:21  Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, you who live in the land of Uz. But to you also the cup will be passed; you will become drunk and strip yourself naked.
4:22  O daughter of Zion, your punishment is now complete; he will not prolong your exile. But, daughter of Edom, he will punish your iniquity, and he will lay bare your sins.