1 How the gold has grown dim, how the pure gold is changed! The holy stones lie scattered at the head of every street.
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!
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.
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.
5 Those who feasted on dainties perish in the streets; those who were brought up in purple lie on ash heaps.
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.
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.
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.
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.
10 The hands of compassionate women have boiled their own children; they became their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
11 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.
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.
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.
14 They wandered, blind, through the streets, so defiled with blood that none could touch their garments.
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."
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.
17 Our eyes failed, ever watching vainly for help; in our watching we watched for a nation which could not save.
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.
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.
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."
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.
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.
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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