Read the Bible

¹ Our glittering gold has grown dull;
    the stones of the Temple lie scattered in the streets.

² Zion's young people were as precious to us as gold,
    but now they are treated like common clay pots.

³ Even a mother wolf will nurse her cubs,
    but my people are like ostriches, cruel to their young.

⁴ They let their babies die of hunger and thirst;
    children are begging for food that no one will give them.

⁵ People who once ate the finest foods die starving in the streets;
    those raised in luxury are pawing through garbage for food.

^6 (a)My people have been punished even more than the inhabitants of Sodom,
    which met a sudden downfall at the hands of God.

⁷ Our princes^[a] were undefiled and pure as snow,
    vigorous and strong, glowing with health.

⁸ Now they lie unknown in the streets, their faces blackened in death;
    their skin, dry as wood, has shriveled on their bones.

⁹ Those who died in the war were better off than those who died later,
    who starved slowly to death, with no food to keep them alive.

^10 (b)The disaster that came to my people brought horror;
    loving mothers boiled their own children for food.

¹¹ The Lord turned loose the full force of his fury;
    he lit a fire in Zion that burned it to the ground.

¹² No one anywhere, not even rulers of foreign nations,
    believed that any invader could enter Jerusalem's gates.

¹³ But it happened, because her prophets sinned and her priests were guilty
    of causing the death of innocent people.

¹⁴ Her leaders wandered through the streets as though blind,
    so stained with blood that no one would touch them.

¹⁵ "Get away!" people shouted. "You're defiled! Don't touch me!"
    So they wandered from nation to nation, welcomed by no one.

¹⁶ The Lord had no more concern for them; he scattered them himself.
    He showed no regard for our priests and leaders.

¹⁷ For help that never came, we looked until we could look no longer.
    We kept waiting for help from a nation that had none to give.

¹⁸ The enemy was watching for us; we could not even walk in the streets.
    Our days were over; the end had come.

¹⁹ Swifter than eagles swooping from the sky, they chased us down.
    They tracked us down in the hills; they took us by surprise in the desert.

²⁰ They captured the source of our life, the king the Lord had chosen,
    the one we had trusted to protect us from every invader.

²¹ Laugh on, people of Edom and Uz; be glad while you can.
    Your disaster is coming too; you too will stagger naked in shame.

²² Zion has paid for her sin; the Lord will not keep us in exile any longer.
    But Edom, the Lord will punish you; he will expose your guilty acts.