3
Even jackals offer their breasts
to nurse their young,
but my people have become heartless
like ostriches in the desert.
4
Because of thirst the infant’s tongue
sticks to the roof of its mouth;
the children beg for bread,
but no one gives it to them.
5
Those who once ate delicacies
are destitute in the streets.
Those nurtured in purple
now lie on ash heaps.
6
The punishment of my people
is greater than that of Sodom,
which was overthrown in a moment
without a hand turned to help her.
7
Their princes were brighter than snow
and whiter than milk,
their bodies more ruddy than rubies,
their appearance like sapphires.
8
But now they are blacker than soot;
they are not recognized in the streets.
Their skin has shriveled on their bones;
it has become as dry as a stick.
9
Those killed by the sword are better off
than those who die of famine;
racked with hunger, they waste away
for lack of food from the field.