1. How dim the gold has become, The fine gold changed! The stones of the set-apart place Are scattered at the head of every street.
2. The precious sons of Tsiyon Who were weighed against fine gold, How they have been reckoned as clay pots, The work of the hands of the potter!
3. Even jackals have presented their breasts, They have nursed their young. The daughter of my people has become as cruel, As ostriches in the wilderness.
4. The tongue of the infant has clung To the roof of its mouth for thirst; Children asked for bread, No one breaks it for them.
5. Those who ate delicacies Have been laid waste in the streets; Those who were brought up in scarlet Have embraced dunghills.
6. And the crookedness of the daughter of my people Is greater than the punishment of the sin of Seḏom, Which was overthrown in a moment, And no hands were wrung over her!
7. Her Nazirites were brighter than snow And whiter than milk; More ruddy in body than rubies, Their cut like sapphire.
8. Their appearance has become blacker than soot; They have become unrecognised in the streets; Their skin has shrivelled on their bones, It has become dry, it has become as wood.
9. Better off were those pierced by the sword Than those pierced by hunger; For these pine away, Pierced through for lack of the fruits of the field.
10. The hands of the compassionate women Have boiled their own children; They became food for them In the destruction of the daughter of my people.
11. יהוה has completed His wrath, He has poured out His burning displeasure. And He kindled a fire in Tsiyon, And it consumed her foundations.
12. The sovereigns of the earth did not believe, Nor any of the inhabitants of the world, That an adversary and enemy Would enter the gates of Yerushalayim.