Previous     Next       Play // Stop Sound

          DASV: Lamentations 4 [Alphabetic Acrostic]

1 א How has gold lost its luster,
          how is the pure gold changed!
      The sacred stones are scattered
          at the head of every street.
2 ב The precious sons of Zion,
          are worth their weight in gold.
      How they are treated like clay pots,
          the work of the hands of the potter!
3 ג Even jackals provide their breasts
          to nurse their infants.
      The daughter of my people has become cruel,
          like ostriches in the desert.
4 ד The infant's tongue sticks to the roof of its mouth
          due to thirst.
      The young children beg for bread,
          but no one gives them a piece.
5 ה Those who used to feast on delicacies
          now are starved in the streets.
      Those who were brought up in scarlet
          claw through the rubbish heaps.
6 ו For the iniquity of the daughter of my people
     is greater than the sin of Sodom,
      that was overthrown in a moment,
     and no helping hand offered to her.
7 ז Our consecrated ones were purer than snow;
          they were whiter than milk.
      They were more ruddy than coral,
          their beauty like precious stones.
8 ח Now their faces are blacker than soot;
          they are not recognized in the streets.
      Their skin clings to their bones;
          it has withered like a dry stick.
9 ט Those who die by the sword
          are better than those who die from hunger.
      For these waste away,
          because of the lack of produce from the field.
10 י The hands of compassionate women
          have boiled their own children.
      They became their food
          when the daughter of my people was destroyed.
11 כ The LORD has expended his wrath;
          he has poured out his fierce anger.
      He has kindled a fire in Zion,
          which has consumed its foundations.
12 ל The kings of the earth did not believe,
     nor all the inhabitants of the world,
      that the foe and the enemy could ever enter
     the gates of Jerusalem.
13 מ It was because of the sins of her prophets,
     and the iniquities of her priests,
           who have shed the blood of the just
     in her midst.
14 נ They wander like the blind through the streets;
     they are so defiled with blood
           that no one would risk touching their garments.
15 ס "Get away! Unclean!" people shout at them,
          "Get away! Get away! Don't touch us!"
      So they fled away and wandered.
     But the people among the nations say,
           "They can't stay here anymore."
16 פ The anger of the LORD has scattered them;
          he protects them no more.
      They did not honor the priests,
          or show favor to the elders.
17 ע Our eyes failed futilely looking for help;
     from our watchtowers we were expectantly watching
           for a nation that could not really save us.
18 צ They hunted down our steps,
          so that we cannot walk in our streets.
      Our end was near,
          our days were numbered,
           for our end has come.
19 ק Our pursuers were swifter
          than the eagles in the sky.
      They chased us on the mountains,
          they set ambushes for us in the desert.
20 ר The very life breath of our nostrils,
     the LORD's anointed king,
           was caught in their pits.
      Of whom we thought,
     "Under his protective shadow
           we shall live among the nations."
21 ש Rejoice and be glad,
     O daughter of Edom,
           you who lives in the land of Uz.
      The cup will be passed to you too;
          you will get drunk and be stripped naked.
22 ת The punishment of your iniquity is completed,
     O daughter of Zion.
      He will no longer keep you in exile.
      He will punish your sin,
     O daughter of Edom.
           He will expose your sins.
Previous     Next       Play // Stop Sound