¹ How the gold has lost its luster, the fine gold become dull! The sacred gems are scattered at every street corner. ² How the precious children of Zion, once worth their weight in gold, are now considered as pots of clay, the work of a potter`s hands! <sup>3</sup> Even jackals offer their breasts to nurse their young, but my people have become heartless like ostriches in the desert. <sup>4</sup> 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 brought up in royal 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 lapis lazuli. 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.