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Lamentations 4:1-22 — Zion's Punishment

Lam.4.1-22

¹How the gold has grown dim, how the fine gold has changed! The holy stones lie poured out at the head of every street. ²The precious sons of Zion, worth their weight in pure gold—how they are regarded as clay jars, the work of a potter's hands! ³Even jackals offer the breast and nurse their young, but the Daughter of my people has become cruel, like ostriches in the wilderness. ⁴The tongue of the nursing child clings to the roof of his mouth from thirst; children ask for bread, but no one breaks it for them. ⁵Those who once ate delicacies lie desolate in the streets; those brought up in scarlet embrace refuse heaps. ⁶The iniquity of the Daughter of my people was greater than the sin of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment, though no hands were laid on her. ⁷Her Nazirites were purer than snow, whiter than milk; their bodies were more ruddy than corals, their form like sapphire. ⁸Now their appearance is darker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets. Their skin shrivels on their bones; it is dry, like wood. ⁹Better were those slain by the sword than those slain by hunger, for these waste away, pierced through for lack of the produce of the field. ¹⁰The hands of compassionate women boiled their own children; they became their food in the destruction of the Daughter of my people. ¹¹Yahweh has spent his wrath; he has poured out his burning anger. He has kindled a fire in Zion, and it has consumed her foundations. ¹²The kings of the earth did not believe, nor did any of the inhabitants of the world, that foe and enemy would enter the gates of Jerusalem. ¹³It was because of the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, who shed in her midst the blood of the righteous. ¹⁴They wandered blind in the streets; they were defiled with blood, so that no one could touch their garments. ¹⁵“Away! Unclean!” people cried to them. “Away, away, do not touch!” So they fled and wandered; among the nations it was said, “They can stay here no longer.” ¹⁶The face of Yahweh has scattered them; he will no longer look on them. They gave no honor to priests and showed no favor to elders. ¹⁷Still our eyes were failing as we looked in vain for help; in our watching we watched for a nation that could not save. ¹⁸They hunted our steps so that we could not walk in our streets. Our end drew near; our days were completed, for our end had come. ¹⁹Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the heavens; on the mountains they chased us, in the wilderness they lay in wait for us. ²⁰The breath of our nostrils, Yahweh's anointed, was captured in their pits, the one of whom we said, 'Under his shadow we will live among the nations.' ²¹Rejoice and be glad, Daughter of Edom, you who dwell in the land of Uz. To you also the cup will pass; you will become drunk and strip yourself bare. ²²Your iniquity is complete, Daughter of Zion ; he will no longer send you into exile. He will punish your iniquity, Daughter of Edom; he will uncover your sins.

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4/11/2026

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