1 How the gold has grown dim, how the good gold has changed! The holy stones lie scattered at the head of every street.
2 The precious sons of Zion, weighed against fine gold, how they are reckoned as clay jars, the work of a potter's hands!
3 Even jackals offer the breast; they nurse their cubs; but the daughter of my people has become cruel, like ostriches in the desert.
4 The tongue of the infant clings to its palate from thirst; children ask for bread, and no one spreads it out for them.
5 Those who ate dainties are destitute in the streets; those reared in crimson cling to dunghills.
6 For the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the sin of Sodom, which was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands were laid on her.
7 Her Nazirites were brighter than snow, whiter than milk; their bodies were ruddier than coral, their cut like sapphire.
8 Their appearance is darker than black; they are not known in the streets; their skin has shrunk on their bones; it has dried up like wood.
9 Better off were the slain of the sword than the slain of hunger, who pine away, stricken, for lack of the fruits of the field.
10 The hands of tender-hearted women have cooked their own children; they became their food in the shattering of the daughter of my people.
11 The LORD has given full vent to his wrath; he has poured out his burning anger; he has lit a fire in Zion, and it has consumed her foundations.
12 The kings of the earth did not believe, nor did any who live in the world, that foe and enemy would come in through the gates of Jerusalem.
13 It was because of the sins of her prophets, the iniquities of her priests, who shed within her the blood of the righteous.
14 They staggered blind in the streets, so defiled with blood that none could touch their clothes.
15 "Turn away! Unclean!" they called to them; "Turn away, turn away, do not touch!" When they fled and wandered, they said among the nations, "They will stay here no longer."
16 The face of the LORD has divided them; he will look on them no more; they showed no regard for the priests and no favor to the elders.
17 Still our eyes wear themselves out looking for help, in vain; in our watching we watched for a nation that could not save.
18 They tracked our steps, so that we could not walk in our squares; our end drew near, our days were full, for our end had come.
19 Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the heavens; on the mountains they chased us hotly; in the desert they lay in wait for us.
20 The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the LORD, was captured in their pits, of whom we said, "In his shade we will live among the nations."
21 Rejoice and be glad, daughter of Edom, who dwell in the land of Uz! To you too the cup will pass; you will get drunk and lay yourself bare.
22 Your iniquity has been punished in full, daughter of Zion; he will not exile you again. He will punish your iniquity, daughter of Edom; he will expose your sins.