Lamentations 4:7-9

New Living Translation

⁷ Our princes once glowed with health—
    brighter than snow, whiter than milk.
Their faces were as ruddy as rubies,
    their appearance like fine jewels.^[a]

⁸ But now their faces are blacker than soot.
    No one recognizes them in the streets.
Their skin sticks to their bones;
    it is as dry and hard as wood.

⁹ Those killed by the sword are better off
    than those who die of hunger.
Starving, they waste away
    for lack of food from the fields.