What happened when Jerusalem was destroyed

4 Previously our people were like [MET] pure gold,

but now they are worthless.

Like [MET] the sacred stones in the temple have been scattered,

our young men have been scattered.

2 The young men of Jerusalem were as valuable as [MET] large amounts of gold,

but now people consider that they are as worthless as ordinary clay pots.

3 Even the female jackals/wolves feed their pups,

but my people act cruelly toward their children;

they are like [SIM] ostriches in the desert that abandon their eggs.

4 My people’s infants’ tongues cling to the roofs/tops of their mouths

because they are extremely thirsty;

the children plead for some food,

but no one gives them any.

5 People who previously ate fine food

are now starving in the streets;

those who previously lived luxuriously [MTY]

now paw/dig through rubbish heaps to find some food.

6 The people of Sodom were struck with a disaster very suddenly,

and there was no one to rescue them;

but my people have been punished

more severely than the people of Sodom were punished.

7 Our leaders’ behavior was previously very pure,

whiter and brighter than snow and milk;

their bodies were redder than red coral/stones;

they were very strong and healthy [MET].

8 But now their faces are blacker than soot,

and no one recognizes them in the streets.

Their skin has shriveled on their bones,

and it has become as dry as [SIM] a wooden stick.

9 It is better to die in a battle [MTY]

than to die of hunger.

There was no food to harvest in the fields,

so the people slowly starved until they died.

10 Women who usually/previously were very kind

have killed and cooked their own children;

they ate them when there was no other food,

when Jerusalem was surrounded by enemy soldiers.

11 Yahweh has shown that he was extremely angry;

it is as though he started/ignited a fire in Jerusalem

that burned everything to ashes.

12 None of the kings on the earth or anyone else

believed that any of our enemies could enter the gates of Jerusalem.

13 But that is what happened;

it happened because the prophets sinned;

and the priests also sinned

by causing innocent people to be executed [MTY].

14 The prophets and priests wandered through the streets

as though they were blind.

No one would touch them

because their clothes were stained with the blood of people who had been killed.

15 The people who were alive shouted, “Stay away from us [DOU]! You are defiled/untouchable!

Do not touch us!”

So the prophets and priests fled from Israel,

and they wandered around from one country to another,

because people in each country kept saying to them, “You cannot stay here!”

16 It is Yahweh himself who has scattered them;

he no longer is concerned about them.

People do not respect our priests or leaders.

17 We [SYN] continued to look for someone to help us,

but it was useless.

We continued to watch to see if one of our allies would save us,

but none of the nations that we were waiting for could help us.

18 Our enemies were hunting for us,

so we could not even walk in our streets lest they seize us.

We were about to be captured;

it was time for us to be killed.

19 Those who pursued us were faster than eagles flying in the sky.

Even if we fled to the mountains

or hid in the desert,

they went there ahead of us and waited to attack us.

20 Our king, whom Yahweh appointed,

was the one who enabled us to remain alive [MTY];

he was the one whom we trusted to protect us [IDM]

from the armies of other nations.

But he was captured

like animals are [MET] caught in a pit.

21 You people of [IDM] Edom and Uz,

you may be happy about what is happening to us now,

but Yahweh will be punishing [MTY] you also.

You will become drunk and will be ashamed

because your enemies will have stripped off your clothes.

22 You people of [APO] Jerusalem,

the time of your being punished will end;

Yahweh will not allow you to continue to live in ◄exile/foreign countries►.

But you people of [APO] Edom, Yahweh will punish you;

he will reveal the wicked things that you have done.