Lamentations 1:19
I called for my lovers, but they deceived me: my priests and mine elders gave up the ghost in the city, while they sought their meat to relieve their souls. I called for my lovers, but they deceived me: my priests and mine elders gave up the ghost in the city, while they sought their meat to relieve their souls.
The verse belongs to Israel's funeral song, the last song the people sang even in a strange land. It marks the end of their former glory as a dirge over a once mighty and glorious nation whose former standing never returned. It depicts Jerusalem's suffering during its fall.
The call for lovers means Jerusalem called on its former allies for help, but they deceived and failed her. Its priests and elders died in the city while seeking food to preserve their lives. The term souls means the people themselves, who sought food to sustain their lives.