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Lamentations 4 :: New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB95)

Distress of the Siege Described

Lam 4:1How dark the gold has become,
How the pure gold has changed!
The sacred stones are poured out
At the [fn]corner of every street.
Lam 4:2The precious sons of Zion,
Weighed against fine gold,
How they are regarded as earthen jars,
The work of a potter’s hands!
Lam 4:3Even jackals offer the breast,
They nurse their young;
But the daughter of my people has become cruel
Like ostriches in the wilderness.
Lam 4:4The tongue of the infant cleaves
To the roof of its mouth because of thirst;
The little ones ask for bread,
But no one breaks it for them.
Lam 4:5Those who ate delicacies
Are desolate in the streets;
Those [fn]reared in purple
Embrace ash pits.
Lam 4:6For the [fn]iniquity of the daughter of my people
Is greater than the [fn]sin of Sodom,
Which was overthrown as in a moment,
And no hands were [fn]turned toward her.
Lam 4:7Her [fn]consecrated ones were purer than snow,
They were whiter than milk;
They were more ruddy in [fn]body than corals,
Their polishing was like [fn]lapis lazuli.
Lam 4:8Their appearance is blacker than soot,
They are not recognized in the streets;
Their skin is shriveled on their bones,
It is withered, it has become like wood.
Lam 4:9Better are those [fn]slain with the sword
Than those [fn]slain with hunger;
For they [fn]pine away, being stricken
For lack of the fruits of [fn]the field.
Lam 4:10The hands of compassionate women
Boiled their own children;
They became food for them
Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
Lam 4:11The LORD has accomplished His wrath,
He has poured out His fierce anger;
And He has kindled a fire in Zion
Which has consumed its foundations.
Lam 4:12The kings of the earth did not believe,
Nor did any of the inhabitants of the world,
That the adversary and the enemy
Could enter the gates of Jerusalem.
Lam 4:13Because of the sins of her prophets
And the iniquities of her priests,
Who have shed in her midst
The blood of the righteous;
Lam 4:14They wandered, blind, in the streets;
They were defiled with blood
So that no one could touch their garments.
Lam 4:15“Depart! Unclean!” [fn]they cried of themselves.
“Depart, depart, do not touch!”
So they fled and wandered;
Men among the nations said,
“They shall not continue to dwell with us.
Lam 4:16The presence of the LORD has scattered them,
He will not continue to regard them;
They did not [fn]honor the priests,
They did not favor the elders.
Lam 4:17Yet our eyes failed,
Looking for [fn]help was useless;
In our watching we have watched
For a nation that could not save.
Lam 4:18They hunted our steps
So that we could not walk in our streets;
Our end drew near,
Our days were [fn]finished
For our end had come.
Lam 4:19Our pursuers were swifter
Than the eagles of the sky;
They chased us on the mountains,
They waited in ambush for us in the wilderness.
Lam 4:20The breath of our nostrils, the LORDS anointed,
Was captured in their pits,
Of whom we had said, “Under his shadow
We shall live among the nations.”
Lam 4:21Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom,
Who dwells in the land of Uz;
But the cup will come around to you as well,
You will become drunk and make yourself naked.
Lam 4:22The punishment of your iniquity has been completed, O daughter of Zion;
He will exile you no longer.
But He will punish your iniquity, O daughter of Edom;
He will expose your sins!
NASB95 Footnotes
Literally: head
Literally: established in crimson
Or, punishment for iniquity
Or, punishment for sin
Or, wrung over her
Or, Nazirites
Literally: bones
Hebrew: sappir
Literally: pierced
Literally: flow away
Literally: my fields
Or, they (men) cried to them
Literally: lift up the faces of
Literally: our help
Literally: full
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New American Standard Bible 1995
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Lamentations Chapter 4 — Additional Translations: