8
Their faces are [now] blacker than soot. No one recognizes them on the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones. It has become as dry as bark.
9
Those who were killed with swords are better off than those who are dying from starvation. Those who were stabbed bled to death. The others are dying because there is nothing in the fields to eat.
10
The hands of loving mothers cooked their own children. The children were used for food by my people when they were being destroyed [by a blockade].
11
The LORD's fury has accomplished his purpose. He unleashed his burning anger. He started a fire in Zion that even burned its foundations.
12
Neither the kings of the earth nor anyone living on earth could believe that enemies or invaders would ever get through the gates of Jerusalem.
13
[They got through] because of the sins of Jerusalem's prophets and the crimes of its priests, who spilled the blood of righteous people within it.
14
My people staggered blindly through the streets. They were so contaminated with bloodstains that no one would touch their clothes.
15
'Get away! You're unclean,' people yelled at them. 'Get away! Get away! Don't touch anyone.' When they fled and wandered around, the people of the nations said, 'They can't stay here any longer.'
16
The LORD himself has scattered them. He will no longer look favorably on them. They no longer respected the priests, nor did they honor their older leaders."
17
"We are still straining our eyes, trying in vain to find help. We waited and waited for a nation that didn't save us.
18
[The enemy] kept tracking us down, so we couldn't even go out into the streets. Our end was near. Our time was up. Our end had come.