Holy Thursday: Lamentations 4

How the gold has grown dim,

    how the pure gold is changed!

The sacred stones lie scattered

    at the head of every street.

² The precious children 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 offer the breast

    and nurse their young,

but my people has become cruel,

    like the ostriches in the wilderness.

⁴ The tongue of the infant sticks

    to the roof of its mouth for thirst;

the children beg for food,

    but no one gives them anything.

⁵ Those who feasted on delicacies

    perish in the streets;

those who were brought up in purple

    cling to ash heaps.

⁶ For the chastisement of my people has been greater

    than the punishment of Sodom,

which was overthrown in a moment,

    though no hand was laid on it.

⁷ Her princes were purer than snow,

    whiter than milk;

their bodies were more ruddy than coral,

    their hair like sapphire.

⁸ Now their visage is blacker than soot;

    they are not recognized in the streets.

Their skin has shriveled on their bones;

    it has become as dry as wood.

⁹ Happier were those pierced by the sword

    than those pierced by hunger,

whose life drains away, deprived

    of the produce of the field.

¹⁰ The hands of compassionate women

    have boiled their own children;

they became their food

    in the destruction of my people.

¹¹ The Lord gave full vent to his wrath;

    he poured out his hot anger,

and kindled a fire in Zion

    that consumed its foundations.

¹² The kings of the earth did not believe,

    nor did any of the inhabitants of the world,

that foe or enemy could enter

    the gates of Jerusalem.

¹³ It was for the sins of her prophets

    and the iniquities of her priests,

who shed the blood of the righteous

    in the midst of her.

¹⁴ Blindly they wandered through the streets,

    so defiled with blood

that no one was able

    to touch their garments.

¹⁵ “Away! Unclean!” people shouted at them;

    “Away! Away! Do not touch!”

So they became fugitives and wanderers;

    it was said among the nations,

    “They shall stay here 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;

we were watching eagerly

    for a nation that could not save.

¹⁸ They 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 eagles in the heavens;

they chased us on the mountains,

    they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.

²⁰ The Lord’s anointed, the breath of our life,

    was taken in their pits—

the one of whom we said, “Under his shadow

    we shall live among the nations.”

²¹ Rejoice and be glad, O daughter Edom,

    you that live 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 Zion, is accomplished,

    he will keep you in exile no longer;

but your iniquity, O daughter Edom, he will punish,

    he will uncover your sins.