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Lamentations 4:1-6

Listen to Lamentations 4:1-6

Terrors of the Besieged City

Alef

1 How the gold has become tarnished, the fine gold become dull! The stones of the temple[a] lie scattered at the corner of every street.[b]

Bet

2 Zion's precious people- [once] worth their weight in pure gold[c]- how they are regarded as clay jars, the work of a potter's hands!

Gimel

3 Even jackals offer [their] breasts to nurse their young, but my dear people have become cruel like ostriches[d] in the wilderness.

Dalet

4 The nursing infant's tongue clings to the roof of his mouth from thirst.[e] Little children beg for bread, but no one gives them [any].

He

5 Those who used to eat delicacies are destitute in the streets; those who were reared in purple [garments][f] huddle in garbage heaps.

Vav

6 The punishment of my dear people is greater than that of Sodom,[g] which was overthrown in an instant without a hand laid on it.

Lamentations 4:1-6 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO LAMENTATIONS 4

The prophet begins this chapter with a complaint of the ill usage of the dear children of God, and precious sons of Zion, La 4:1,2; relates the dreadful effects of the famine during the siege of Jerusalem, La 4:3-10; the taking and destruction of that city he imputes to the wrath of God; and represents it as incredible to the kings and inhabitants of the earth, La 4:11,12; the causes of which were the sins of the prophets, priests, and people, La 4:13-16; expresses the vain hopes they once had, but now were given up entirely, their king being taken, La 4:17-20; and the chapter is concluded with a prophecy of the destruction of the Edomites, and of the return of the Jews from captivity, La 4:21,22.

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Footnotes 7

  • [a] Or The sacred gems
  • [b] Ezk 7:19-20
  • [c] Isa 62:3; Zch 9:16
  • [d] Jb 39:13-18
  • [e] Ps 22:15
  • [f] Jdg 8:26; Est 8:15
  • [g] Gn 18-19; Isa 3:9; Jr 23:14
Holman Christian Standard Bible ® Copyright © 2003, 2002, 2000, 1999 by Holman Bible Publishers.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.

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