A reading from the Book of Lamentations.

How the gold has grown dim, how the pure gold is changed, the holy stones lie scattered at the head of every street, the precious sons of Zion worth their weight in fine gold, how they are regarded as earthen pots, the work of a potter's hands.

Even jackals offer the breast. They nurse their

young, but the daughter of my people has become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.

The tongue of the nursing infant sticks to the roof of its mouth for thirst. The children

beg for food, but no one gives to them. Those who once feasted on delicacies perish in the streets.

Those who are brought up in purple embrace ash heaps, for the chastisement of the daughter of my people has been greater than the

punishment of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment, and no hands were rung for her. Her princes were

pure than snow, wider than milk, their bodies were more ruddy than coral. The beauty of their

form was like sapphire. Now their face is blacker than soot. They are not recognized in

the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones. It has become as dry as wood.

Happier were the victims of the sword than the victims of hunger, who wasted away, pierced

by lack of the fruits of the field.

The hands of compassionate women have boiled their own children. They became their food during the

destruction of the daughter of my people. The Lord gave full vent to his wrath. He poured out his hot

anger, and he kindled a fire in Zion that consumed its foundations. The kings of the earth did not believe, nor any of the

inhabitants of the world, that foe or enemy could enter the gates of Jerusalem. This was for the

sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, who shed in the midst of her the blood of the

righteous. They wandered, blind, through the streets. They were so defiled with blood that no one

was able to touch

their garments. Away, unclean, people cried at them. Away, away, away, do not touch. So they became

fugitives and wanderers. People said among the nations, they shall stay with us no longer. The

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