Lamentations 4:7-9

Contemporary English Version

⁷ The leaders of Jerusalem
were purer than snow
    and whiter than milk;
their bodies were healthy
    and glowed like jewels.^[a]
8 Now they are blacker than tar,
    and no one recognizes them;
their skin clings to their bones
    and is drier than firewood.
⁹ Being killed with a sword
is better than slowly
    starving to death.