2 These are Zion's people,worth more than purest gold;yet they are counted worthlesslike dishes of clay.
3 Even jackals nurse their young,but my people are like ostrichesthat abandon their own.
4 Babies are so thirstythat their tongues are stuckto the roof of the mouth.Children go begging for food,but no one gives them any.
5 All who ate expensive foodslie starving in the streets;those who grew up in luxurynow sit on rubbish heaps.
6 My nation was punished worsethan the people of Sodom,whose city was destroyedin a flash without the helpof human hands.
7 The leaders of Jerusalemwere purer than snowand whiter than milk;their bodies were healthyand glowed like jewels.
8 Now they are blacker than tar,and no one recognizes them;their skin clings to their bonesand is drier than firewood.