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Distress of the Siege Described

¹ How ^(C1)dark the gold has become,
How the pure gold has changed!
The sacred stones are poured out
At the ^(F1)corner of every street.

² The precious sons of Zion,
Weighed against fine gold,
How they are regarded as ^(C1)earthen jars,
The work of a potter's hands!

³ Even ^(C1)jackals offer the breast,
They nurse their young;
But the daughter of my people has become ^(C2)cruel
Like ^(C3)ostriches in the wilderness.

⁴ The ^(C1)tongue of the infant cleaves
To the roof of its mouth because of ^(C2)thirst;
The little ones ^(C3)ask for bread,
But no one breaks it for them.

⁵ Those who ate ^(C1)delicacies
Are desolate in the streets;
Those ^(F1)reared in purple
Embrace ash pits.

⁶ For the ^(F1)iniquity of the daughter of my people
Is greater than the ^(F2)(C1)sin of Sodom,
Which was ^(C2)overthrown as in a moment,
And no hands were ^(F3)turned toward her.

⁷ Her ^(F1)consecrated ones were ^(C1)purer than snow,
They were whiter than milk;
They were more ruddy in ^(F2)body than corals,
Their polishing was like ^(F3)(C2)lapis lazuli.

⁸ Their appearance is ^(C1)blacker than soot,
They are not recognized in the streets;
Their ^(C2)skin is shriveled on their bones,
It is withered, it has become like wood.

⁹ Better are those ^(F1)(C1)slain with the sword
Than those ^(F1)slain with hunger;
For they ^(F2)(C2)pine away, being stricken
For lack of the fruits of ^(F3)the field.

¹⁰ The hands of compassionate women
^(C1)Boiled their own children;
They became ^(C2)food for them
Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.

¹¹ The LORD has ^(C1)accomplished His wrath,
He has poured out His fierce anger;
And He has ^(C2)kindled a fire in Zion
Which has consumed its foundations.

¹² The kings of the earth did not believe,
Nor did any of ^(C1)the inhabitants of the world,
That the adversary and the enemy
Could ^(C2)enter the gates of Jerusalem.

¹³ Because of the sins of her ^(C1)prophets
And the iniquities of her priests,
Who have shed in her midst
The ^(C2)blood of the righteous;

¹⁴ They wandered, ^(C1)blind, in the streets;
They were defiled with ^(C2)blood
So that no one could touch their ^(C3)garments.

¹⁵ "Depart! ^(C1)Unclean!" ^(F1)they cried of themselves.
"Depart, depart, do not touch!"
So they ^(C2)fled and wandered;
Men among the nations said,
"They shall not continue to dwell with us."

¹⁶ The presence of the LORD has scattered them,
He will not continue to regard them;
They did not ^(F1)(C1)honor the priests,
They did not favor the elders.

¹⁷ Yet our eyes failed,
Looking for ^(F1)help was ^(C1)useless;
In our watching we have watched
For a ^(C2)nation that could not save.

¹⁸ They ^(C1)hunted our steps
So that we could not walk in our streets;
Our ^(C2)end drew near,
Our days were ^(F1)finished
For our end had come.

¹⁹ Our pursuers were ^(C1)swifter
Than the eagles of the sky;
They chased us on the mountains,
They waited in ambush for us in the wilderness.

²⁰ The ^(C1)breath of our nostrils, the ^(C2)LORD'S anointed,
Was ^(C3)captured in their pits,
Of whom we had said, "Under his ^(C4)shadow
We shall live among the nations."

²¹ Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of ^(C1)Edom,
Who dwells in the land of Uz;
But the ^(C2)cup will come around to you as well,
You will become drunk and make yourself naked.

²² The punishment of your iniquity has been ^(C1)completed, O daughter of Zion;
He will exile you no longer.
But He ^(C2)will punish your iniquity, O daughter of Edom;
He will expose your sins!