4:1 *How the gold has lost its luster, the fine gold become dull! The sacred gems are scattered at every street corner. / *This chapter is an acrostic poem, the verses of which begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
4:2 How the precious children of Zion, once worth their weight in gold, are now considered as pots of clay, the work of a potter’s hands!
4:3 Even jackals offer their breasts to nurse their young, but my people have become heartless like ostriches in the desert.
4:4 Because of thirst the infant’s tongue sticks to the roof of its mouth; the children beg for bread, but no one gives it to them.
4:5 Those who once ate delicacies are destitute in the streets. Those brought up in royal purple now lie on ash heaps.
4:6 The punishment of my people is greater than that of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment without a hand turned to help her.
4:7 Their princes were brighter than snow and whiter than milk, their bodies more ruddy than rubies, their appearance like lapis lazuli.
4:8 But now they are blacker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones; it has become as dry as a stick.
4:9 Those killed by the sword are better off than those who die of famine; racked with hunger, they waste away for lack of food from the field.
4:10 With their own hands compassionate women have cooked their own children, who became their food when my people were destroyed.
4:11 The Lord has given full vent to his wrath; he has poured out his fierce anger. He kindled a fire in Zion that consumed her foundations.
4:12 The kings of the earth did not believe, nor did any of the peoples of the world, that enemies and foes could enter the gates of Jerusalem.
4:13 But it happened because of the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, who shed within her the blood of the righteous.
4:14 Now they grope through the streets as if they were blind. They are so defiled with blood that no one dares to touch their garments.
4:15 “Go away! You are unclean!” people cry to them. “Away! Away! Don’t touch us!” When they flee and wander about, people among the nations say, “They can stay here no longer.”
4:16 The Lord himself has scattered them; he no longer watches over them. The priests are shown no honor, the elders no favor.
4:17 Moreover, our eyes failed, looking in vain for help; from our towers we watched for a nation that could not save us.
4:18 People stalked us at every step, so we could not walk in our streets. Our end was near, our days were numbered, for our end had come.
4:19 Our pursuers were swifter than eagles in the sky; they chased us over the mountains and lay in wait for us in the desert.
4:20 The Lord’s anointed, our very life breath, was caught in their traps. We thought that under his shadow we would live among the nations.
4:21 Rejoice and be glad, Daughter Edom, you who live in the land of Uz. But to you also the cup will be passed; you will be drunk and stripped naked.
4:22 Your punishment will end, Daughter Zion; he will not prolong your exile. But he will punish your sin, Daughter Edom, and expose your wickedness.