Lamentations 4:1-22
א [Aleph]
4 How the shining gold has grown dim, the fine gold!+
How the holy stones+ lie scattered at every street corner!*+
ב [Beth]
2 As for the precious sons of Zion, who were weighed against* refined gold,How they have been regarded as earthenware jars,The work of a potter’s hands!
ג [Gimel]
3 Even jackals offer the udder to nurse their young,But the daughter of my people has become cruel,+ like ostriches in the wilderness.+
ד [Daleth]
4 The tongue of the nursing infant sticks to its palate because of thirst.
Children beg for bread,+ but no one gives them any.+
ה [He]
5 Those who used to eat delicacies lie famished* in the streets.+
Those who were brought up wearing scarlet+ have embraced ash heaps.
ו [Waw]
6 The punishment* of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment for the sin of Sodʹom,+Which was overthrown in a moment, with no hand to help her.+
ז [Zayin]
7 Her Nazʹi·rites+ were purer than snow, whiter than milk.
They were more ruddy than corals; they were like polished sapphires.
ח [Heth]
8 Their appearance has become darker than soot;*They are not recognized in the streets.
Their skin has shriveled over their bones;+ it has become like dry wood.
ט [Teth]
9 Those slain with the sword are better off than those slain by famine,+Those who waste away, who are pierced through for lack of food from the field.
י [Yod]
10 The hands of compassionate women have boiled their own children.+
They have become their food of mourning during the breakdown of the daughter of my people.+
כ [Kaph]
11 Jehovah has expressed his wrath;He has poured out his burning anger.+
And he starts a fire in Zion that consumes her foundations.+
ל [Lamed]
12 The kings of the earth and all the inhabitants of the productive land did not believeThat the adversary and the enemy would enter the gates of Jerusalem.+
מ [Mem]
13 It was because of the sins of her prophets, the errors of her priests,+Who shed the blood of righteous ones in her midst.+
נ [Nun]
14 They have wandered blindly+ in the streets.
They are polluted with blood,+So that none are able to touch their garments.
ס [Samekh]
15 “Go away! Unclean!” they call out to them. “Go away! Go away! Do not touch us!”
For they have gone homeless and wander about.
People have said among the nations: “They cannot stay here with us.*+
פ [Pe]
16 The face of Jehovah has scattered them;+He will no longer look favorably on them.
Men will show no respect for the priests,+ no favor to the elders.”+
ע [Ayin]
17 Even now our eyes are worn out from looking in vain for help.+
We looked and looked for help from a nation that could not save us.+
צ [Tsade]
18 They have hunted us down at every step+ so that we could not walk in our public squares.
Our end has drawn near; our days have finished, for our end has come.
ק [Qoph]
19 Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the sky.+
They chased us on the mountains; they ambushed us in the wilderness.
ר [Resh]
20 The breath of our nostrils, the anointed one of Jehovah,+ has been captured in their large pit,+The one of whom we said: “In his shade we will live among the nations.”
ש [Sin]
21 Exult and rejoice, O daughter of Eʹdom,+ living as you do in the land of Uz.
But to you also the cup will be passed,+ and you will become drunk and expose your nakedness.+
ת [Taw]
22 The punishment for your error, O daughter of Zion, has come to its finish.
He will not carry you off into exile again.+
But he will turn his attention to your error, O daughter of Eʹdom.
He will uncover your sins.+
Footnotes
^ Lit., “at the head of all streets!”
^ Or “were as precious as.”
^ Lit., “desolate.”
^ Lit., “error.”
^ Lit., “blackness.”
^ Or “reside here as foreigners.”