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Lamentations 4:5

Verse 5 of 22. The 4th of 5 chapters in Lamentations, in The Major Prophets.

1How the gold has become dim! The most pure gold has changed! The stones of the sanctuary are poured out at the head of every street.

2The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how they are esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!

3Even 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.

4The tongue of the nursing child clings to the roof of his mouth for thirst. The young children ask for bread, and no one breaks it for them.

5Those who ate delicacies are desolate in the streets. Those who were brought up in purple embrace dunghills.

6For 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.

7Her nobles were purer than snow. They were whiter than milk. They were more ruddy in body than rubies. Their polishing was like sapphire.

8Their 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 wood.

9Those 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.

Read Lamentations 4

World English Bible. Public domain. Set as prose throughout, including the poetry, because the text is published to us without its lines.