Lamentations 4

Reading Lamentations chapter 4 in the World English Bible, public-domain text from 2000.

Verses 1–10

1 How the gold has become dim! The most pure gold has changed! The stones of the sanctuary are poured out at the head of every street.

2 The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how they are esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!

3 Even the jackals offer their breast. They nurse their young ones. But the daughter of my people has become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.

4 The tongue of the nursing child clings to the roof of his mouth for thirst. The young children ask for bread, and no one breaks it for them.

5 Those who ate delicacies are desolate in the streets. Those who were brought up in purple embrace dunghills.

6 For the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the sin of Sodom, which was overthrown as in a moment. No hands were laid on her.

7 Her nobles were purer than snow. They were whiter than milk. They were more ruddy in body than rubies. Their polishing was like sapphire.

8 Their appearance is blacker than a coal. They are not known in the streets. Their skin clings to their bones. It is withered. It has become like wood.

9 Those who are killed with the sword are better than those who are killed with hunger; for these pine away, stricken through, for lack of the fruits of the field.

10 The hands of the pitiful women have boiled their own children. They were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

Lamentations in other translations

• KJV Lamentations
• ASV Lamentations
• Darby Lamentations
• DRC Lamentations
• Webster Lamentations
• YLT Lamentations

About this translation

The World English Bible (2000) is one of seven public-domain translations available in the OCC Bible Explorer. Use the full app to compare translations side by side, search across all translations, and explore Strong's Hebrew and Greek concordance entries linked to every word.