Lamentations

How is the gold become dim! how is the most fine gold changed! the stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of every street.

1How the gold has lost its shine! The finest gold has gone dull! The precious stones of the temple lie scattered at every street corner.

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

2The people of Zion were once as precious as pure gold. Now they are counted as cheap clay jars, just something a potter made.

3Even the sea monsters draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones: the daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.

3Even jackals hold out their breasts and nurse their young. But the daughter of my people has turned cruel, like an ostrich in the desert.

NoteThe KJV's "sea monsters" here means jackals, wild dogs of the desert.

4The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst: the young children ask bread, and no man breaketh it unto them.

4The nursing baby's tongue sticks to the roof of his mouth from thirst. Little children beg for bread, and no one gives them any.

5They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets: they that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.

5People who once ate the finest food now have nothing in the streets. Those raised in fine red clothes now huddle in piles of ashes.

6For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands stayed on her.

6The punishment of my people is worse than the punishment of Sodom. Sodom was destroyed in a moment, with no hand lifted against her.

7Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was of sapphire:

7Her leading men once looked brighter than snow and whiter than milk. Their bodies glowed redder than rubies, and they shone like polished sapphire.

Note"Nazarites" in this verse means the city's leading men, its princes and nobles.

8Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets: their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick.

8Now their faces are blacker than soot, and no one knows them in the streets. Their skin clings to their bones, shriveled and dry as a stick.

9They that be slain with the sword are better than they that be slain with hunger: for these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the field.

9Those killed by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger. The starving waste away in pain, because the fields grow no food.

10The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

10Women who used to be full of pity cooked their own children with their own hands. The children became their food when my people were destroyed.

11The LORD hath accomplished his fury; he hath poured out his fierce anger, and hath kindled a fire in Zion, and it hath devoured the foundations thereof.

11The LORD has poured out all of his burning anger until it was spent. He lit a fire in Zion that burned it down to its foundations.

12The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the world, would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy should have entered into the gates of Jerusalem.

12The kings of the earth did not believe it. No one anywhere believed that an enemy could ever get through the gates of Jerusalem.

13For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her,

13But it happened because of the sins of her prophets and the guilt of her priests. They spilled the blood of innocent people right inside the city.

14They have wandered as blind men in the streets, they have polluted themselves with blood, so that men could not touch their garments.

14Those men wandered the streets like blind men. They were so stained with blood that no one dared touch their clothes.

15They cried unto them, Depart ye; it is unclean; depart, depart, touch not: when they fled away and wandered, they said among the heathen, They shall no more sojourn there.

15People shouted at them, "Go away! You are unclean! Away! Do not touch us!" So they ran off and wandered. Other nations said they could not stay.

16The anger of the LORD hath divided them; he will no more regard them: they respected not the persons of the priests, they favoured not the elders.

16The LORD himself has scattered them, and he pays them no attention now. The priests are shown no honor, and the elders are given no kindness.

17As for us, our eyes as yet failed for our vain help: in our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save us.

17All that time our eyes grew tired from watching for help that never came. We kept watch for a nation that could not save us.

18They hunt our steps, that we cannot go in our streets: our end is near, our days are fulfilled; for our end is come.

18They tracked every step we took, so we could not walk in our own streets. Our end came close. Our time ran out. The end came.

19Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the heaven: they pursued us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness.

19The men who chased us were faster than eagles in the sky. They hunted us over the mountains and lay in wait for us in the desert.

20The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the LORD, was taken in their pits, of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the heathen.

20The king the LORD chose was the very breath of our life, and he was caught in their pit. We had said we would live safely in his shade among the nations.

Note"The anointed of the LORD" is the king, who had oil poured on his head when he took the throne. Living "under his shadow" means living under his protection.

21Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Uz; the cup also shall pass through unto thee: thou shalt be drunken, and shalt make thyself naked.

21Be happy and celebrate, people of Edom, living in the land of Uz. But the cup of punishment will come to you too. You will drink until you stagger and are stripped bare.

22The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion; he will no more carry thee away into captivity: he will visit thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom; he will discover thy sins.

22People of Zion, your punishment is complete; he will not send you away again. But Edom, he will punish your sin and show everyone what you did.