Lamentations 4

Lamentations 4:1

How the gold has become tarnished, the pure gold has become dull! The gems of the temple lie scattered on every street corner.

Lamentations 4:1 · BSB

Lamentations 4:2

How the precious sons of Zion, once worth their weight in pure gold, are now esteemed as jars of clay, the work of a potter’s hands!

Lamentations 4:2 · BSB

Lamentations 4:3

Even jackals offer their breasts to nurse their young, but the daughter of my people has become cruel, like an ostrich in the wilderness.

Lamentations 4:3 · BSB

sea monsters or , sea calves

Lamentations 4:4

The nursing infant’s tongue clings in thirst to the roof of his mouth. Little children beg for bread, but no one gives them any.

Lamentations 4:4 · BSB

Lamentations 4:5

Those who once ate delicacies are destitute in the streets; those brought up in crimson huddle in ash heaps.

Lamentations 4:5 · BSB

Lamentations 4:6

The punishment of the daughter of my people is greater than that of Sodom, which was overthrown in an instant without a hand turned to help her.

Lamentations 4:6 · BSB

Lamentations 4:7

Her dignitaries were brighter than snow, whiter than milk; their bodies were more ruddy than rubies, their appearance like sapphires.

Lamentations 4:7 · BSB

their polishing Gizrathom rendered by Dr. Blayney , "their veining ," from gazar to divide , intersect , as the blue veins do the surface of the body. This is approved by Dr. A. Clarke , who remarks , "Milk will most certainly well apply to the whiteness of the skin; the beautiful ruby to the ruddiness of the flesh; and the sapphire , in its clear , transcendent purple , to the veins in a fine complexion.

Lamentations 4:8

But now their appearance is blacker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones; it has become as dry as a stick.

Lamentations 4:8 · BSB

blacker than a coal Heb. darker than blackness. Or , as Dr. Blayney renders , "duskier than the dawn;" shachar signifying "the dawn of the day , when it is neither light nor dark , but between both , at which time objects are not easily distinguished."

Lamentations 4:9

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

Lamentations 4:9 · BSB

pine away Heb. flow out

Lamentations 4:10

The hands of compassionate women have cooked their own children, who became their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

Lamentations 4:10 · BSB

Lamentations 4:11

The LORD has exhausted His wrath; He has poured out His fierce anger; He has kindled a fire in Zion, and it has consumed her foundations.

Lamentations 4:11 · BSB

Lamentations 4:12

The kings of the earth did not believe, nor any people of the world, that an enemy or a foe could enter the gates of Jerusalem.

Lamentations 4:12 · BSB

Lamentations 4:13

But this was for the sins of her prophets and the guilt of her priests, who shed the blood of the righteous in her midst.

Lamentations 4:13 · BSB

Lamentations 4:14

They wandered blind in the streets, defiled by this blood, so that no one dared to touch their garments.

Lamentations 4:14 · BSB

Lamentations 4:15

"Go away! Unclean!" men shouted at them. "Away, away! Do not touch us!" So they fled and wandered. Among the nations it was said, "They can stay here no longer."

Lamentations 4:15 · BSB

Lamentations 4:16

The presence of the LORD has scattered them; He regards them no more. The priests are shown no honor; the elders find no favor.

Lamentations 4:16 · BSB

anger or , face

Lamentations 4:17

All the while our eyes were failing as we looked in vain for help. We watched from our towers for a nation that could not save us.

Lamentations 4:17 · BSB

for a For the Egyptians , who were their pretended allies; but who were neither able nor willing to help them.

Lamentations 4:18

They stalked our every step, so that we could not walk in our streets. Our end drew near, our time ran out, for our end had come!

Lamentations 4:18 · BSB

Lamentations 4:19

Those who chased us were swifter than the eagles in the sky; they pursued us over the mountains and ambushed us in the wilderness.

Lamentations 4:19 · BSB

the eagles The eagle , whose wings are of an extraordinary length , darts with amazing rapidity through the voids of heaven.

Lamentations 4:20

The LORD’s anointed, the breath of our life, was captured in their pits. We had said of him, “Under his shadow we will live among the nations.”

Lamentations 4:20 · BSB

Lamentations 4:21

So rejoice and be glad, O Daughter of Edom, you who dwell in the land of Uz. Yet the cup will pass to you as well; you will get drunk and expose yourself.

Lamentations 4:21 · BSB

Lamentations 4:22

O Daughter of Zion, your punishment is complete; He will not prolong your exile. But He will punish your iniquity, O Daughter of Edom; He will expose your sins.

Lamentations 4:22 · BSB

discover thy sins or , carry thee captive for thy sins