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From the Blue Letter Bible
Revised Standard Version
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| How the gold has grown dim, how the pure gold is changed! The holy stones lie scattered at the head of every street. | |
| The precious sons of Zion, worth their weight in fine gold, how they are reckoned as earthen pots, the work of a potter's hands! | |
| Even the jackals give the breast and suckle their young, but the daughter of my people has become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness. | |
| The tongue of the nursling cleaves to the roof of its mouth for thirst; the children beg for food, but no one gives to them. | |
| Those who feasted on dainties perish in the streets; those who were brought up in purple lie on ash heaps. | |
| For the chastisement of the daughter of my people has been greater than the punishment of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment, no hand being laid on it. | |
| Her princes were purer than snow, whiter than milk; their bodies were more ruddy than coral, the beauty of their form was like sapphire. | |
| Now their visage is blacker than soot, they are not recognized in the streets; their skin has shriveled upon their bones, it has become as dry as wood. | |
| Happier were the victims of the sword than the victims of hunger, who pined away, stricken by want of the fruits of the field. | |
| The hands of compassionate women have boiled their own children; they became their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people. | |
| The LORD gave full vent to his wrath, he poured out his hot anger; and he kindled a fire in Zion, which consumed its foundations. | |
| The kings of the earth did not believe, or any of the inhabitants of the world, that foe or enemy could enter the gates of Jerusalem. | |
| This was for the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, who shed in the midst of her the blood of the righteous. | |
| They wandered, blind, through the streets, so defiled with blood that none could touch their garments. | |
| "Away! Unclean!" men cried at them; "Away! Away! Touch not!" So they became fugitives and wanderers; men said among the nations, "They shall stay with us no longer." | |
| The LORD himself has scattered them, he will regard them no more; no honor was shown to the priests, no favor to the elders. | |
| Our eyes failed, ever watching vainly for help; in our watching we watched for a nation which could not save. | |
| Men dogged our steps so that we could not walk in our streets; our end drew near; our days were numbered; for our end had come. | |
| Our pursuers were swifter than the vultures in the heavens; they chased us on the mountains, they lay in wait for us in the wilderness. | |
| The breath of our nostrils, the LORD's anointed, was taken in their pits, he of whom we said, "Under his shadow we shall live among the nations." | |
| Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, dweller in the land of Uz; but to you also the cup shall pass; you shall become drunk and strip yourself bare. | |
| The punishment of your iniquity, O daughter of Zion, is accomplished, he will keep you in exile no longer; but your iniquity, O daughter of Edom, he will punish, he will uncover your sins. |
| Lamentations 4 | ||
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Downloaded from the Oxford Text Archive and used with permission. The following header is required to be posted:
Source:
Transcribed from: The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version containing the Old and New Testaments, translated from the original tongues: being the version set forth A.D. 1611, revised A.D. 1881-1885 and A.D. 1901: compared with the most ancient authorities and revised A.D. 1946-52. — 2nd ed. of New Testament A.D. 1971. There should be enough in the rest of the description to identify the text.
Language:
English
Availability:
Freely available for non-commercial use provided that this header is included in its entirety with any copy distributed.
