1 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.
2 The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!
3 Even 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.
4 The 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.
5 They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets: they that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.
6 For 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.
7 Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing [was] of sapphire:
8 Their 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.
9 [They 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.
10 The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
11 The 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.
12 The 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.
13 For the sins of her prophets, [and] the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her,
14 They have wandered [as] blind [men] in the streets, they have polluted themselves with blood, so that men could not touch their garments.
15 They 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].
16 The 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.
17 As 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].
18 They hunt our steps, that we cannot go in our streets: our end is near, our days are fulfilled; for our end is come.
19 Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the heaven: they pursued us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness.
20 The 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.
21 Rejoice 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.
22 The 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.
Versículos relacionados com Lamentations, 4:
Lamentations 4 talks about the destruction of Jerusalem and the punishment that the people suffered because of their sins. The chapter also describes the desperate situation of the city's inhabitants, who have gone hungry and suffered other forms of violence. Here are five verses related to the topics covered in lamentations 4:
Psalm 137:7: "Remember, Lord, of the children of Edom, on the day of Jerusalem, who said, I discovered it, I discovered it to its foundations." This psalm is a lamentation of the Jews who were taken captive to Babylon, and he remembers the suffering of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. The cited verse asks God to remember those who contributed to the destruction of the city.
Isaiah 3:8: "Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah has fallen; for his tongue and works are against the Lord to tease the eyes of His glory." This verse describes the fall of Jerusalem and Judah, and attributes the blame to its inhabitants because of their sinful actions.
Ezekiel 5:10: "Therefore, parents will eat their children in the midst of you, and their children will eat their parents; and I will perform in you judgments, and all that remains of you will spread to all the winds." This verse describes the extreme hunger that occurred during the siege of Jerusalem, which led people to resort to cannibalism.
Lamentations 4:9: "Those who were killed to the sword were happier than those who starved to death; because these, exhausted by the effects of hunger, were slowly firing, until they expired, while those, crossed by the sword, died, suddenly." This verse describes the difference between the deaths that occurred during the siege, and states that dying through the sword was preferable to slow and agonizing death because of hunger.
Jeremiah 19:9: "I will make them eat the flesh of their children and the flesh of their daughters, and each will eat the flesh of their neighbor, during the siege and the tightening with which they shall squeeze their enemies, and those who seek them take their lives out. " This verse is a prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem, and states that the people will suffer so much during the siege that will resort to cannibalism to survive.
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