1How will the gold be tarnished,
And the fine silver changed!
The sacred stones have been poured forth
At the top of all the streets.

2The precious sons of Zion,
Who were equaled in value with gold,
How are they counted as earthen vessels,
The works of the hands of the potter!

3Nay, serpents have drawn out the breasts,
They give suck to their young,
The daughters of my people are incurably cruel,
As an ostrich in a desert.

4The tongue of the sucking child
Cleaves to the roof of its mouth for thirst:
The little children ask for bread,
And there is none to break it to them.

5They that feed on dainties
Are desolate in the streets:
They that used to be nursed in scarlet
Have clothed themselves with dung.

6And the iniquity of the daughter of my people has been increased
Beyond the iniquities of Sodom,
The city that was overthrown very suddenly,
And none labored against her with their hands.

7Her Nazirites were made purer than snow,
They were whiter than milk,
They were purified as with fire,
Their polishing was superior to sapphire stone.

8Their countenance is become blacker than smoke;
They are not known in the streets:
Their skin has cloven to their bones;
They are withered, they are become as a stick.

9The slain with the sword were better
Than they that were slain with hunger:
They have departed,
Pierced through from want of the fruits of the field.

10The hands of tenderhearted women
Have sodden their own children:
They became meat for them
In the destruction of the daughter of my people.

11The Lord has accomplished his wrath;
He has poured out his fierce anger,
And has kindled a fire in Zion,
And it has devoured her foundations.

12The kings of the earth,
Even all that dwell in the world,
Believed not that an enemy and oppressor would enter
Through the gates of Jerusalem.

13For the sins of her prophets,
And iniquities of her priests,
Who shed righteous blood
In the midst of her,

14Her watchmen staggered in the streets,
They were defiled with blood in their weakness,
They touched their raiment with it.

15Depart ye from the unclean ones:
Call ye them: depart, depart, touch them not:
For they are on fire, yea, they stagger:
Say ye among the nations,
They shall no more sojourn there.

16The presence of the Lord was their portion;
But he will not again look upon them:
They regarded not the person of the priests,
They pitied not the prophets.

17While we yet lived our eyes failed,
While we looked in vain for our help.
We looked to a nation that could not save.

18We have hunted for our little ones,
That they should not walk in our streets.
Our time has drawn nigh,
Our days are fulfilled,
Our time is come.

19Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the sky,
They flew on the mountains,
In the wilderness they laid wait for us.

20The breath of our nostrils, our anointed Lord,
Was taken in their destructive snares,
Of whom we said,
In his shadow we shall live among the Gentiles.

21Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom,
That dwellest in the land:
Yet the cup of the Lord shall pass through to thee:
Thou shalt be drunken, and pour forth.

22O daughter of Zion, thine iniquity has come to an end;
He shall no more carry thee captive:
He has visited thine iniquities, O daughter of Edom;
He has discovered thy sins.