Lamentations 4
1 how? to darken gold to change [the] gold [the] pleasant to pour: scatter stone holiness in/on/with head: top all outside
How gold has tarnished! Even pure gold has lost its shine! Jewels from the Temple have been scattered on every street corner.
2 son: descendant/people Zion [the] precious [the] to weigh in/on/with pure gold how? to devise: count to/for bag earthenware deed: work hand to form: potter
Look at how the precious people of Zion, worth their weight in gold, are now valued like cheap clay jars made by a potter!
3 also (jackal *QK) to rescue breast to suckle whelp their daughter people my to/for cruel (for like/as ostrich *QK) in/on/with wilderness
Even jackals nurse their young at their breasts, but the women of my people have become cruel, like an ostrich in the desert.
4 to cleave tongue to suckle to(wards) palate his in/on/with thirst infant to ask food to spread nothing to/for them
The nursing babies are so thirsty that their tongues stick to the roof of their mouths. Little children beg for food, but nobody gives them anything.
5 [the] to eat to/for delicacy be desolate: destroyed in/on/with outside [the] be faithful upon worm to embrace refuse
Those who used to eat gourmet food now die starving in the streets. Those who dressed in fine clothes from their childhood now live in heaps of rubbish.
6 and to magnify iniquity: punishment daughter people my from sin: punishment Sodom [the] to overturn like moment and not to twist: tremble in/on/with her hand
Jerusalem's punishment is worse than sinful Sodom's, which was destroyed in a brief moment, without the help of human hands.
7 be clean Nazirite her from snow be dazzling from milk to redden bone: body from jewel sapphire cutting/separation their
Her leaders were purer than snow, whiter than milk; their bodies were a healthier red than coral, and they shone like lapis lazuli.
8 to darken from blackness appearance their not to recognize in/on/with outside to shrivel skin their upon bone their dry to be like/as tree: wood
But now they look blacker than soot; no one recognizes them in the street. Their skin has shrunk to their bones and is as dry as wood.
9 pleasant to be slain: killed sword from slain: killed famine which/that they(masc.) to flow: waste away to pierce from fruit field
Those killed by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger, who slowly waste away in agony because the fields produce no crops.
10 hand woman compassionate to boil youth their to be to/for to eat to/for them in/on/with breaking daughter people my
The hands of loving women have cooked their own children to eat during the destruction of Jerusalem.
11 to end: expend LORD [obj] rage his to pour: pour burning anger face: anger his and to kindle fire in/on/with Zion and to eat foundation her
The Lord has given full expression to his anger. He has poured out his fury. He has started a fire in Zion, and it has burned down her very foundations.
12 not be faithful king land: country/planet (all *QK) to dwell world for to come (in): come enemy and enemy in/on/with gate Jerusalem
No king on earth—in fact nobody in all the world—thought that an enemy or attacker could enter the gates of Jerusalem.
13 from sin prophet her iniquity: crime priest her [the] to pour: kill in/on/with entrails: among her blood righteous
But this happened because of the sins of her prophets and the wickedness of her priests, who shed the blood of the innocent right there in the city.
14 to shake blind in/on/with outside to defile in/on/with blood in/on/with not be able to touch in/on/with clothing their
They wandered like blind men through the streets, made unclean by this blood, so no one would touch their clothes.
15 to turn aside: remove unclean to call: call out to/for them to turn aside: remove to turn aside: remove not to touch for to flee also to shake to say in/on/with nation not to add: again to/for to sojourn
“Go away! You're unclean!” people would shout at them, “Go away, go away! Don't touch us!” So they ran away and wandered from country to country, but the people there told them, “You can't stay here!”
16 face of LORD to divide them not to add: again to/for to look them face: kindness priest not to lift: kindness (and old: elder *QK) not be gracious
The Lord himself has scattered them; he doesn't bother with them anymore. Nobody respects the priests, and nobody admires the leaders.
17 (still we *QK) to end: expend eye our to(wards) help our vanity in/on/with watch our to watch to(wards) nation not to save
We wore out our eyes pointlessly looking for help the whole time; we watched from our towers for a nation to come that couldn't save us.
18 to hunt step our from to go: walk in/on/with street/plaza our to present: come end our to fill day our for to come (in): come end our
The enemy tracked our every movement so we couldn't walk through our streets. Our end approached. Our time was up because our end had come.
19 swift to be to pursue us from eagle heaven upon [the] mountain: mount to burn/pursue us in/on/with wilderness to ambush to/for us
Our pursuers were faster than eagles in the sky. They chased us across the mountains and ambushed us in the desert.
20 spirit: breath face: nose our anointed LORD to capture in/on/with pit their which to say in/on/with shadow his to live in/on/with nation
The king, the Lord's anointed, our country's “life-breath,” was trapped and captured by them. We had said about him, “Under his protection we will live among the nations.”
21 to rejoice and to rejoice daughter Edom (to dwell *Qk) in/on/with land: country/planet Uz also upon you to pass cup be drunk and to uncover
Celebrate and be happy while you can, people of Edom, you who live in the land of Uz, because this cup will be passed to you too. You will get drunk and strip yourself naked.
22 to finish iniquity: crime your daughter Zion not to add: again to/for to reveal: remove you to reckon: punish iniquity: crime your daughter Edom to reveal: reveal upon sin your
People of Zion, your punishment is coming to an end—he won't continue your exile for long. But he is going to punish your sins, people of Edom; he will reveal your sins.
