Lamentations 4:1-4

1This chapter is an acrostic poem, the verses of which begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. How the gold has lost its luster, the fine gold become dull! The sacred gems are scattered at every street corner.

2How the precious children of Zion, once worth their weight in gold, are now considered as pots of clay, the work of a potter’s hands!

3Even jackals offer their breasts to nurse their young, but my people have become heartless like ostriches in the desert.

4Because of thirst the infant’s tongue sticks to the roof of its mouth; the children beg for bread, but no one gives it to them.