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4:1  How dull the gold has become! How the fine gold has lost its shimmer! Sacred stones are poured out at the corner of every street.
4:2  The precious sons of Zion, who were worth their weight in gold, now are treated like clay jars, the work of a potter’s hands!
4:3  Even jackals offer a breast and nurse their young, but the daughter of my people has become cruel, like an ostrich in the wilderness.
4:4  The baby’s tongue sticks to the roof of its mouth because of thirst. Children ask for bread, but no one shares with them.
4:5  Those who ate delicacies have become desolate in the streets. Those who were dressed in scarlet have embraced piles of trash.
4:6  The guilt of the daughter of my people was greater than the sin of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment, though no hands turned against her.
4:7  Her consecrated ones were brighter than snow. They were whiter than milk. Their bones were redder than rubies; their facets shined like sapphires.
4:8  Now their faces have become the darkest black. They cannot be recognized in the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones. It is as dry as a stick of wood.
4:9  Those cut down by the sword are better off than those cut down by hunger, those who waste away, pierced with pain, with no crops to eat from the field.
4:10  The hands of compassionate women boiled their children. Their children became their food when the daughter of my people was broken.
4:11  The Lord carried out his wrath. He poured out his burning anger. He kindled a fire in Zion, and it consumed her foundations.
4:12  The kings of the earth and the world’s inhabitants never believed that foe and enemy would enter the gates of Jerusalem.
4:13  The reason this happened was the sin of her prophets and the guilt of her priests, who shed the blood of the righteous in her midst.
4:14  Those blind men staggered in the streets. They were defiled with blood, so people could not touch their garments.
4:15  “Go away! Unclean!” people shouted to them. “Go away! Go away! Do not touch us!” When they fled, when they staggered, people among the nations said, “They may not stay here anymore.”
4:16  The face of the Lord scattered them. He has no regard for them anymore. Priests were shown no consideration. Elders were shown no favor.
4:17  Our eyes are still worn out, looking in vain for our help. In our watchtowers we watched for a nation that could not save us.
4:18  They hunted our steps, preventing us from going into the public squares of our city. Our end has drawn near. Our days are finished, for our end has come.
4:19  Our pursuers were faster than eagles in the sky. On the mountains they were in hot pursuit of us. In the wilderness they waited to ambush us.
4:20  The life breath for our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord, was caught in their pits. We had said of him, “In his shadow we will live among the nations.”
4:21  Rejoice and be glad, daughter of Edom, who dwells in the land of Uz. A cup will also come to you. You will become drunk and naked.
4:22  The punishment for your guilt is finished, daughter of Zion. He will not send you into exile again. Daughter of Edom, he punishes your guilt. He reveals your sins.