| 章 |
| 4:1 |
How the gold has grown dim, how the pure gold is changed! The holy stones lie scattered at the head of every street.
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| 4:2 |
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!
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| 4:3 |
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.
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| 4:4 |
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.
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| 4:5 |
Those who feasted on dainties perish in the streets;those who were brought up in purple lie on ash heaps.
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| 4:6 |
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.
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| 4:7 |
Her princes were purer than snow, whiter than milk;their bodies were more ruddy than coral, the beauty of their form was like sapphire.
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| 4:8 |
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.
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| 4:9 |
Happier were the victims of the sword than the victims of hunger, who pined away, stricken by want of the fruits of the field.
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| 4:10 |
The hands of compassionate women have boiled their own children;they became their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
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| 4:11 |
The LORD gave full vent to his wrath, he poured out his hotanger;and he kindled a fire in Zion, which consumed its foundations.
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| 4:12 |
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.
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| 4:13 |
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.
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| 4:14 |
They wandered, blind, through the streets, so defiled with blood that none could touch their garments.
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| 4:15 |
'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.'
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| 4:16 |
The LORD himself has scattered them, he will regard them no more;no honor was shown to the priests, no favor to the elders.
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| 4:17 |
Our eyes failed, ever watching vainly for help;in our watching we watched for a nation which could not save.
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| 4:18 |
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.
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| 4:19 |
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.
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| 4:20 |
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.'
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| 4:21 |
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.
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| 4:22 |
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.
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