Lamentations 4 in the early church

How the gold has become tarnished, the pure gold has become dull! The gems of the temple lie scattered on every street corner.

How the precious sons of Zion, once worth their weight in pure gold, are now esteemed as jars of clay, the work of a potter’s hands!

The nursing infant’s tongue clings in thirst to the roof of his mouth. Little children beg for bread, but no one gives them any.

Those who once ate delicacies are destitute in the streets; those brought up in crimson huddle in ash heaps.

Her dignitaries were brighter than snow, whiter than milk; their bodies were more ruddy than rubies, their appearance like sapphires.

Those slain by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger, who waste away, pierced with pain because the fields lack produce.

The hands of compassionate women have cooked their own children, who became their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

“Go away! Unclean!” men shouted at them. “Away, away! Do not touch us!” So they fled and wandered. Among the nations it was said, “They can stay here no longer.”

The presence of the LORD has scattered them; He regards them no more. The priests are shown no honor; the elders find no favor.

They stalked our every step, so that we could not walk in our streets. Our end drew near, our time ran out, for our end had come!

Those who chased us were swifter than the eagles in the sky; they pursued us over the mountains and ambushed us in the wilderness.

The LORD’s anointed, the breath of our life, was captured in their pits. We had said of him, “Under his shadow we will live among the nations.”

So rejoice and be glad, O Daughter of Edom, you who dwell in the land of Uz. Yet the cup will pass to you as well; you will get drunk and expose yourself.

O Daughter of Zion, your punishment is complete; He will not prolong your exile. But He will punish your iniquity, O Daughter of Edom; He will expose your sins.