Lamentations 4:7-9

Holman Christian Standard Bible

⁷ Her dignitaries were brighter than snow,
whiter than milk;
their bodies^[a] were more ruddy than coral,
their appearance like sapphire.^[b]

⁸ Now they appear darker than soot;^(A)
they are not recognized in the streets.
Their skin has shriveled on their bones;
it has become dry like wood.

⁹ Those slain by the sword are better off
than those slain by hunger,
who waste away, pierced with pain
because the fields lack produce.