3. Even the jackals feed their young,but not my people Israel.They ignore their children’s cries,like ostriches in the desert.
4. The parched tongues of their little onesstick to the roofs of their mouths in thirst.The children cry for bread,but no one has any to give them.
5. The people who once ate the richest foodsnow beg in the streets for anything they can get.Those who once wore the finest clothesnow search the garbage dumps for food.
6. The guilt of my peopleis greater than that of Sodom,where utter disaster struck in a momentand no hand offered help.
7. Our princes once glowed with health—brighter than snow, whiter than milk.Their faces were as ruddy as rubies,their appearance like fine jewels.
8. But now their faces are blacker than soot.No one recognizes them in the streets.Their skin sticks to their bones;it is as dry and hard as wood.
9. Those killed by the sword are better offthan those who die of hunger.Starving, they waste awayfor lack of food from the fields.
10. Tenderhearted womenhave cooked their own children.They have eaten themto survive the siege.
11. But now the anger of the lord is satisfied.His fierce anger has been poured out.He started a fire in Jerusalemthat burned the city to its foundations.
12. Not a king in all the earth—no one in all the world—would have believed that an enemycould march through the gates of Jerusalem.
13. Yet it happened because of the sins of her prophetsand the sins of her priests,who defiled the cityby shedding innocent blood.