4
1 How is the gold become dim, Changed the best -- the pure  gold? Poured out are stones of the sanctuary At the head of all  out-places.
2 The precious sons of Zion, Who are comparable with fine  gold, How have they been reckoned earthen bottles, Work of the  hands of a potter.
3 Even dragons have drawn out the breast, They have suckled  their young ones, The daughter of my people is become cruel,  Like the ostriches in a wilderness.
4 Cleaved hath the tongue of a suckling unto his palate with  thirst, Infants asked bread, a dealer out they have none.
5 Those eating of dainties have been desolate in out-places,  Those supported on scarlet have embraced dunghills.
6 And greater is the iniquity of the daughter of my people,  Than the sin of Sodom, That was overturned as [in] a moment,  And no hands were stayed on her.
7 Purer were her Nazarites than snow, Whiter than milk,  ruddier of body than rubies, Of sapphire their form.
8 Darker than blackness hath been their visage, They have not  been known in out-places, Cleaved hath their skin unto their  bone, It hath withered -- it hath been as wood.
9 Better have been the pierced of a sword Than the pierced of  famine, For these flow away, pierced through, Without the  increase of the field.
10 The hands of merciful women have boiled their own children,  They have been for food to them, In the destruction of the  daughter of my people.
11 Completed hath Jehovah His fury, He hath poured out the  fierceness of His anger, And he kindleth a fire in Zion, And it  devoureth her foundations.
12 Believe not did the kings of earth, And any of the  inhabitants of the world, That come would an adversary and  enemy Into the gates of Jerusalem.
13 Because of the sins of her prophets, The iniquities of her  priests, Who are shedding in her midst the blood of the  righteous,
14 They have wandered naked in out-places, They have been  polluted with blood, Without [any] being able to touch their  clothing,
15 `Turn aside -- unclean,' they called to them, `Turn aside,  turn aside, touch not,' For they fled -- yea, they have  wandered, They have said among nations: `They do not add to  sojourn.'
16 The face of Jehovah hath divided them, He doth not add to  behold them, The face of priests they have not lifted up,  Elders they have not favoured.
17 While we exist -- consumed are our eyes for our vain help,  In our watch-tower we have watched for a nation [that] saveth  not.
18 They have hunted our steps from going in our broad-places,  Near hath been our end, fulfilled our days, For come hath our  end.
19 Swifter have been our pursuers, Than the eagles of the  heavens, On the mountains they have burned [after] us, In the  wilderness they have laid wait for us.
20 The breath of our nostrils -- the anointed of Jehovah, Hath  been captured in their pits, of whom we said: `In his shadow we  do live among nations.'
21 Joy and rejoice, O daughter of Edom, Dwelling in the land  of Uz, Even unto thee pass over doth a cup, Thou art drunk, and  makest thyself naked.
22 Completed [is] thy iniquity, daughter of Zion, He doth not  add to remove thee, He hath inspected thy iniquity, O daughter  of Edom, He hath removed [thee] because of thy sins!