1. How the gold has become dim!The most pure gold has changed!The stones of the sanctuary are poured outat the head of every street.
2. The precious sons of Zion,comparable to fine gold,how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers,the work of the hands of the potter!
3. Even the jackals offer their breast.They nurse their young ones.But the daughter of my people has become cruel,like the ostriches in the wilderness.
4. The tongue of the nursing child clings to the roof of his mouth for thirst.The young children ask bread,and no one breaks it for them.
5. Those who ate delicacies are desolate in the streets.Those who were brought up in purple embrace dunghills.
6. For the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the sin of Sodom,which was overthrown as in a moment.No hands were laid on her.
7. Her Nazirites were purer than snow.They were whiter than milk.They were more ruddy in body than rubies.Their polishing was like sapphire.
8. Their appearance is blacker than a coal.They are not known in the streets.Their skin clings to their bones.It is withered.It has become like a stick.
9. Those who are killed with the sword are better than those who are killed with hunger;For these pine away, stricken through,for lack of the fruits of the field.
10. The hands of the pitiful women have boiled their own children.They were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.