[Image: Introduction to Lamentations]
LAMENTATIONS 4
The Holy Stones Lie Scattered
[1] How the gold has grown dim,
how the pure gold is changed!
The holy stones lie scattered
at the head of every street.
[2] The precious sons of Zion,
worth their weight in fine gold,
how they are regarded as earthen pots,
the work of a potter’s hands!
[3] Even jackals offer the breast;
they nurse their young;
but the daughter of my people has become cruel,
like the ostriches in the wilderness.
[4] The tongue of the nursing infant sticks
to the roof of its mouth for thirst;
the children beg for food,
but no one gives to them.
[5] Those who once feasted on delicacies
perish in the streets;
those who were brought up in purple
embrace ash heaps.
[6] For the chastisement of the daughter of my people has been greater
than the punishment of Sodom,
which was overthrown in a moment,
and no hands were wrung for her.
[7] Her princes were purer than snow,
whiter than milk;
their bodies were more ruddy than coral,
the beauty of their form was like sapphire.
[8] Now their face is blacker than soot;
they are not recognized in the streets;
their skin has shriveled on their bones;
it has become as dry as wood.
[9] Happier were the victims of the sword
than the victims of hunger,
who wasted away, pierced
by lack of the fruits of the field.
[10] The hands of compassionate women
have boiled their own children;
they became their food
during the destruction of the daughter of my people.
[11] The LORD gave full vent to his wrath;
he poured out his hot anger,
and he kindled a fire in Zion
that consumed its foundations.
[12] The kings of the earth did not believe,
nor any of the inhabitants of the world,
that foe or enemy could enter
the gates of Jerusalem.
[13] This was for 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 wandered, blind, through the streets;
they were so defiled with blood
that no one was able to touch
their garments.
[15] “Away! Unclean!” people cried at them.
“Away! Away! Do not touch!”
So they became fugitives and wanderers;
people said among the nations,
“They shall stay with us no longer.”
[16] The LORD himself has scattered them;
he will regard them no more;
no honor was shown to the priests,
no favor to the elders.
[17] Our eyes failed, ever watching
vainly for help;
in our watching we watched
for a nation which could not save.
[18] They dogged our steps
so that we could not walk in our streets;
our end drew near; our days were numbered,
for our end had come.
[19] Our pursuers were swifter
than the eagles in the heavens;
they chased us on the mountains;
they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.
[20] The breath of our nostrils, the LORD’s anointed,
was captured in their pits,
of whom we said, “Under his shadow
we shall live among the nations.”
[21] Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom,
you who dwell in the land of Uz;
but to you also the cup shall pass;
you shall become drunk and strip yourself bare.
[22] The punishment of your iniquity, O daughter of Zion, is accomplished;
he will keep you in exile no longer;
but your iniquity, O daughter of Edom, he will punish;
he will uncover your sins. (ESV)
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