7. Her dignitaries were brighter than snow,whiter than milk;their bodies were more ruddy than coral,their appearance like sapphire.
8. Now they appear darker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets.Their skin has shriveled on their bones;it has become dry like wood.
9. Those slain by the sword are better offthan those slain by hunger,who waste away, pierced with painbecause the fields lack produce.
10. The hands of compassionate womenhave cooked their own children; they became their foodduring the destruction of my dear people.
11. The Lord has exhausted His wrath,poured out His burning anger;He has ignited a fire in Zion,and it has consumed her foundations.
12. The kings of the earthand all the world’s inhabitants did not believethat an enemy or adversarycould enter Jerusalem’s gates.
13. Yet it happened because of the sins of her prophetsand the guilt of her priests,who shed the blood of the righteouswithin her.
14. Blind, they stumbled in the streets, defiled by this blood, so that no one daredto touch their garments.