The Horror of the Siege and Famine

1

How the gold has lost its luster! How the fine gold has changed! How the stones of the sanctuary lie scattered at every streetcorner!

2

The precious sons of Tziyon, as precious as fine gold -to think they are now worth no more than clay jars made by a potter!

3

Even jackals bare their breasts in order to nurse their young, but the daughters of my people have become as cruel as ostriches in the desert.

4

The tongue of the baby at the breast sticks to the roof of its mouth from thirst; young children are begging for bread, but no one is giving them any.

5

People who once ate only the best lie dying in the streets; those who were raised wearing purple are clawing at piles of garbage.

6

For the offense of the daughter of my people is greater than the sin of S'dom, which was overthrown in an instant, without a hand to help her.

7

Her princes were purer than snow; they were whiter than milk, their bodies more ruddy than pink pearls, as beautiful as sapphires.

8

Now their faces are blacker than coal; in the streets they go unrecognized. Their skin has shriveled over their bones and become as dry as a stick.

9

Those slain by the sword are better off than those who are dying from hunger; since these waste away as if pierced through, for lack of food from the fields.

10

With their own hands compassionate women have cooked their own children; their children became their food when the daughter of my people was destroyed.

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