Sermon Central
Lamentations 4
Distress Of The Siege Described
How the pure gold has changed!
The sacred stones are poured out
At the corner of every street.
Weighed against fine gold,
How they are regarded as earthen jars,
The work of a potter’s hands!
They nurse their young;
But the daughter of my people has become cruel
Like ostriches in the wilderness.
To the roof of its mouth because of thirst;
The little ones ask for bread,
But no one breaks it for them.
Are desolate in the streets;
Those reared in purple
Embrace ash pits.
Is greater than the sin of Sodom,
Which was overthrown as in a moment,
And no hands were turned toward her.
They were whiter than milk;
They were more ruddy in body than corals,
Their polishing was like lapis lazuli.
They are not recognized in the streets;
Their skin is shriveled on their bones,
It is withered, it has become like wood.
Than those slain with hunger;
For they pine away, being stricken
For lack of the fruits of the field.
Boiled their own children;
They became food for them
Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
He has poured out His fierce anger;
And He has kindled a fire in Zion
Which has consumed its foundations.
Nor did any of the inhabitants of the world,
That the adversary and the enemy
Could enter the gates of Jerusalem.
And the iniquities of her priests,
Who have shed in her midst
The blood of the righteous;
They were defiled with blood
So that no one could touch their garments.
“Depart, depart, do not touch!”
So they fled and wandered;
Men among the nations said,
“They shall not continue to dwell with us.”
He will not continue to regard them;
They did not honor the priests,
They did not favor the elders.
Looking for help was useless;
In our watching we have watched
For a nation that could not save.
So that we could not walk in our streets;
Our end drew near,
Our days were finished
For our end had come.
Than the eagles of the sky;
They chased us on the mountains,
They waited in ambush for us in the wilderness.
Was captured in their pits,
Of whom we had said, “Under his shadow
We shall live among the nations.”
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.
He will exile you no longer.
But He will punish your iniquity, O daughter of Edom;
He will expose your sins!