Lamentations 4 NLT ISV Parallel

◄ Lamentations 4 ►

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New Living Translation

International Standard Version

1How the gold has lost its luster! Even the finest gold has become dull. The sacred gemstones lie scattered in the streets!

1How tarnished the gold has become, the finest gold debased! Sacred stones have been scattered at every street corner.

2See how the precious children of Jerusalem, worth their weight in fine gold, are now treated like pots of clay made by a common potter.

2Though the precious people of Zion were like fine gold, how they are valued like clay vessels, the handiwork of a potter!

3Even the jackals feed their young, but not my people Israel. They ignore their children’s cries, like ostriches in the desert.

3Even wild animals nurse, suckling their young; but the women of my people are cruel, like ostriches in the wilderness.

4The parched tongues of their little ones stick to the roofs of their mouths in thirst. The children cry for bread, but no one has any to give them.

4The nursing child's tongue cleaves to its palate from thirst. Young children beg for bread, but no one gives them any.

5The people who once ate the richest foods now beg in the streets for anything they can get. Those who once wore the finest clothes now search the garbage dumps for food.

5Those who enjoyed delicacies lie desolate in the streets. Those who were reared wearing purple scavenge in piles of trash.

6The guilt of my people is greater than that of Sodom, where utter disaster struck in a moment and no hand offered help.

6The guilt of my cherished people surpasses the sin of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment, without a hand to help her.

7Our princes once glowed with health— brighter than snow, whiter than milk. Their faces were as ruddy as rubies, their appearance like fine jewels.

7Her princes were purer than snow, whiter than milk. Their bodies were more ruddy than rubies, their beards like the color of precious stones.

8But now their faces are blacker than soot. No one recognizes them in the streets. Their skin sticks to their bones; it is as dry and hard as wood.

8Now their faces are blacker than coal; they are unrecognized in the streets. Their skin clings to their bones; it has become dry like a stick.

9Those killed by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger. Starving, they waste away for lack of food from the fields.

9Those who die by the sword are better off than those who die from starvation, who slowly waste away like those pierced through for lack of food from the fields.

10Tenderhearted women have cooked their own children. They have eaten them to survive the siege.

10With their own hands, compassionate women boil their own children— they become their food— when my beloved people were destroyed.

11But now the anger of the LORD is satisfied. His fierce anger has been poured out. He started a fire in Jerusalem that burned the city to its foundations.

11The LORD has exhausted his wrath, pouring out his fierce anger. He kindled a fire in Zion, consuming its foundations.

12Not a king in all the earth— no one in all the world— would have believed that an enemy could march through the gates of Jerusalem.

12None of the kings of the earth would have believed, nor the world's inhabitants, that the adversary and the enemy could have breached the gates of Jerusalem.

13Yet it happened because of the sins of her prophets and the sins of her priests, who defiled the city by shedding innocent blood.

13Due to the sins committed by her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests who shed in her midst, the blood of the righteous,

14They wandered blindly through the streets, so defiled by blood that no one dared touch them.

14people stagger around in the streets like the blind, defiled by blood unclean so that no one is able to touch their clothing.

15“Get away!” the people shouted at them. “You’re defiled! Don’t touch us!” So they fled to distant lands and wandered among foreign nations, but none would let them stay.

15"Go away! Unclean!" they shouted at them. "Go away! Go away! Don't touch!" When they fled away and wandered, those among the nations decreed, "They cannot live here!"

16The LORD himself has scattered them, and he no longer helps them. People show no respect for the priests and no longer honor the leaders.

16The LORD himself separated them; he will do nothing more for them. They did not respect their own priests; they did not honor their elders.

17We looked in vain for our allies to come and save us, but we were looking to nations that could not help us.

17Our eyes failed, searching in vain for hope; we kept watching and looking for a nation that would not help.

18We couldn’t go into the streets without danger to our lives. Our end was near; our days were numbered. We were doomed!

18Our steps were closely stalked, so we couldn't travel on our own streets. Our end is near, our days are over; indeed, our end has come.

19Our enemies were swifter than eagles in flight. If we fled to the mountains, they found us. If we hid in the wilderness, they were waiting for us there.

19Our pursuers were swifter than soaring eagles; they pursued us over the mountains, lying in wait for us in the wilderness.

20Our king—the LORD’s anointed, the very life of our nation— was caught in their snares. We had thought that his shadow would protect us against any nation on earth!

20The LORD's anointed, the breath of our life, was captured in their pits. About him we had said, "Under his protection we will survive among the nations."

21Are you rejoicing in the land of Uz, O people of Edom? But you, too, must drink from the cup of the LORD’s anger. You, too, will be stripped naked in your drunkenness.

21Celebrate and rejoice, you women of Edom, who live in the land of Uz. But to you the cup also will pass— you will become drunk and stripped naked.

22O beautiful Jerusalem, your punishment will end; you will soon return from exile. But Edom, your punishment is just beginning; soon your many sins will be exposed.

22The punishment for your sin is complete, you women of Zion, and God will no longer exile you. He will punish your iniquity, you women of Edom, and he will expose your sins.

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