8. But now they are smeared with soot,unrecognizable in the street,Their bones sticking out,their skin dried out like old leather.
9. Better to have been killed in battlethan killed by starvation.Better to have died of battle woundsthan to slowly starve to death.
10. Nice and kindly womenboiled their own children for supper.This was the only food in townwhen my dear people were broken.
11. God let all his anger loose, held nothing back.He poured out his raging wrath.He set a fire in Zionthat burned it to the ground.
12. The kings of the earth couldn’t believe it.World rulers were in shock,Watching old enemies march in big as you please,right through Jerusalem’s gates.
13. Because of the sins of her prophetsand the evil of her priests,Who exploited good and trusting people,robbing them of their lives,
14. These prophets and priests blindly grope their way through the streets,grimy and stained from their dirty lives,Wasted by their wasted lives,shuffling from fatigue, dressed in rags.
15. People yell at them, “Get out of here, dirty old men!Get lost, don’t touch us, don’t infect us!”They have to leave town. They wander off.Nobody wants them to stay here.Everyone knows, wherever they wander,that they’ve been kicked out of their own hometown.
16. God himself scattered them.No longer does he look out for them.He has nothing to do with the priests;he cares nothing for the elders.
17. We watched and watched,wore our eyes out looking for help. And nothing.We mounted our lookouts and lookedfor the help that never showed up.
18. They tracked us down, those hunters.It wasn’t safe to go out in the street.Our end was near, our days numbered.We were doomed.
19. They came after us faster than eagles in flight,pressed us hard in the mountains, ambushed us in the desert.
20. Our king, our life’s breath, the anointed of God,was caught in their traps—Our king under whose protectionwe always said we’d live.