rsv Lamentations:4:1-13 SEEK
Seeker Overlay ON
*
How the gold has grown dim ,
how the pure gold is changed !
The holy stones lie scattered at the head of every street .
*
The precious sons of Zion ,
worth their weight in fine gold ,
how they are reckoned as earthen pots ,
the work of a potter '
s hands !
*
Even the jackals give the breast and suckle their young ,
but the daughter of my people has become cruel ,
like the ostriches in the wilderness .
*
The tongue of the nursling cleaves to the roof of its mouth for thirst ;
the children beg for food ,
but no one gives to them .
*
Those who feasted on dainties perish in the streets ;
those who were brought up in purple lie on ash heaps .
*
For the chastisement of the daughter of my people has been greater than the punishment of Sodom ,
which was overthrown in a moment ,
no hand being laid on it .
*
Her princes were purer than snow ,
whiter than milk ;
their bodies were more ruddy than coral ,
the beauty of their form was like sapphire .
*
Now their visage is blacker than soot ,
they are not recognized in the streets ;
their skin has shriveled upon their bones ,
it has become as dry as wood .
*
Happier were the victims of the sword than the victims of hunger ,
who pined away ,
stricken by want of the fruits of the field .
*
The hands of compassionate women have boiled their own children ;
they became their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people .
*
The LORD gave full vent to his wrath ,
he poured out his hot anger ;
and he kindled a fire in Zion ,
which consumed its foundations .
*
The kings of the earth did not believe ,
or any of the inhabitants of the world ,
that foe or enemy could enter the gates of Jerusalem .
*
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 .