4:1 [Thisis an acrostic poem, the verses of which begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.] How the gold has lost its lustre, the fine gold become dull! The sacred gems are scattered at the head of every street.
4:2 How the precious sons of Zion, once worth their weight in gold, are now considered as pots of clay, the work of a potter’s hands!
4:3 Even jackals offer their breasts to nurse their young, but my people have become heartless like ostriches in the desert.
4:4 Because of thirst the infant’s tongue sticks to the roof of its mouth the children beg for bread, but no-one gives it to them.
4:5 Those who once ate delicacies are destitute in the streets. Those nurtured in purple now lie on ash heaps.
4:6 The punishment of my people is greater than that of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment without a hand turned to help her.
4:7 Their princes were brighter than snow and whiter than milk, their bodies more ruddy than rubies, their appearance like sapphires. [Or lapis lazuli]
4:8 But now they are blacker than soot they are not recognised in the streets. Their skin has shrivelled on their bones it has become as dry as a stick.
4:9 Those killed by the sword are better off than those who die of famine racked with hunger, they waste away for lack of food from the field.
4:10 With their own hands compassionate women have cooked their own children, who became their food when my people were destroyed.
4:11 The LORD has given full vent to his wrath he has poured out his fierce anger. He kindled a fire in Zion that consumed her foundations.
4:12 The kings of the earth did not believe, nor did any of the world’s people, that enemies and foes could enter the gates of Jerusalem.
4:13 But it happened because of the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, who shed within her the blood of the righteous.
4:14 Now they grope through the streets like men who are blind. They are so defiled with blood that no-one dares to touch their garments.
4:15 Go away! You are unclean! men cry to them. Away! Away! Don’t touch us! When they flee and wander about, people among the nations say, They can stay here no longer.
4:16 The LORD himself has scattered them he no longer watches over them. The priests are shown no honour, the elders no favour.
4:17 Moreover, our eyes failed, looking in vain for help from our towers we watched for a nation that could not save us.
4:18 Men stalked us at every step, so we could not walk in our streets. Our end was near, our days were numbered, for our end had come.
4:19 Our pursuers were swifter than eagles in the sky they chased us over the mountains and lay in wait for us in the desert.
4:20 The LORD’s anointed, our very life breath, was caught in their traps. We thought that under his shadow we would live among the nations.
4:21 Rejoice and be glad, O Daughter of Edom, you who live in the land of Uz. But to you also the cup will be passed you will be drunk and stripped naked.
4:22 Daughter of Zion, your punishment will end he will not prolong your exile. But, O Daughter of Edom, he will punish your sin and expose your wickedness.