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4:1  How dark the gold has become, How the pure gold has changed! The sacred stones are poured out At the head of every street.
4:2  The precious sons of Zion, Weighed against fine gold, How they are regarded as earthen jars, The work of a potter’s hands!
4:3  Even jackals offer the breast; They nurse their young; But the daughter of my people has become cruel Like ostriches in the wilderness.
4:4  The tongue of the nursing baby cleaves To the roof of its mouth because of thirst; The infants ask for bread, But no one breaks it for them.
4:5  Those who ate delicacies Are desolate in the streets; Those reared in crimson Embrace ash pits.
4:6  So 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 whirled toward her.
4:7  Her Nazirites were purer than snow; They were whiter than milk; They were more ruddy in body than corals, Their polishing was like lapis lazuli.
4:8  Their form is blacker than soot; They are not recognized in the streets; Their skin is shriveled on their bones; It is withered, it has become like wood.
4:9  Better are those pierced through with the sword Than those pierced through with hunger; For their life flows away, being stricken For lack of the produce of the field.
4:10  The hands of compassionate women Boiled their own children; They became food for them Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
4:11  Yahweh has spent His wrath; He has poured out His burning anger; And He has kindled a fire in Zion Which has devoured its foundations.
4:12  The kings of the earth did not believe, Nor did any of the inhabitants of the world, That the adversary and the enemy Could enter the gates of Jerusalem.
4:13  Because of the sins of her prophets And the iniquities of her priests, Who have shed in her midst The blood of the righteous;
4:14  They wandered, blind, in the streets; They were defiled with blood So that no one could touch their garments.
4:15  “Depart! Unclean!” they cried of themselves. “Depart, depart, do not touch!” So they fled and wandered; Men among the nations said, “They shall not continue to sojourn with us.”
4:16  The presence of Yahweh has eradicated them; He will not continue to look at them; They did not honor the priests; They did not favor the elders.
4:17  Yet our eyes were spent, Looking for help was vanity; In our watching we have watched For a nation that could not save.
4:18  They hunted our steps So that we could not walk in our open squares; Our end drew near, Our days were finished, For our end had come.
4:19  Our pursuers were swifter Than the eagles of the sky; They hotly pursued us on the mountains; They waited in ambush for us in the wilderness.
4:20  The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of Yahweh, Was captured in their pits, Of whom we had said, “Under his shadow We shall live among the nations.”
4:21  Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, Who inhabits the land of Uz; But the cup will pass on to you as well; You will become drunk and make yourself naked.
4:22  The punishment of your iniquity has come to an end, O daughter of Zion; He will exile you no longer. But He will punish your iniquity, O daughter of Edom; He will expose your sins!