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Lamentations 4:8-18

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8 1Now their face is blacker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets; their skin has shriveled on their bones; it has become as dry as wood.
9 Happier were the victims of the sword than the victims of hunger, who wasted away, pierced by lack of the fruits of the field.
10 2The hands of 3compassionate women 4have boiled their own children; 5they became their food during the destruction of the daughter of my people.
11 6The LORD gave full vent to his wrath; he poured out his hot anger, and 7he kindled a fire in Zion that consumed its foundations.
12 8The kings of the earth did not believe, nor any of the inhabitants of the world, that foe or enemy could enter the gates of Jerusalem.
13 This was for 9the sins of her prophets and 10the iniquities of her priests, who shed in the midst of her the blood of the righteous.
14 11They wandered, blind, through the streets; they were so defiled with blood 12that no one was able to touch their garments.
15 "Away! 13Unclean!" people cried at them. "Away! Away! Do not touch!" So they became fugitives and wanderers; people said among the nations, "They shall stay with us no longer."
16 14The LORD himself[a] has scattered them; he will regard them no more; 15no honor was shown to the priests, 16no favor to the elders.
17 17Our eyes failed, ever watching 18vainly for help; in our watching we watched for 19a nation which could not save.
18 20They dogged our steps so that we could not walk in our streets; 21our end drew near; our days were numbered, for our end had come.
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Lamentations 4:8-18 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.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 21

  • 1. Lamentations 5:10; Job 30:30; [Psalms 119:83]
  • 2. See Jeremiah 19:9
  • 3. [1 Kings 3:26; Isaiah 49:15]
  • 4. [2 Kings 6:29]
  • 5. Deuteronomy 28:57
  • 6. Ezekiel 5:13
  • 7. See Jeremiah 17:27
  • 8. [Isaiah 52:15; Isaiah 53:1]
  • 9. [Lamentations 2:20]; See Jeremiah 5:31; Jeremiah 23:21
  • 10. [Lamentations 2:20]; See Jeremiah 5:31; Jeremiah 23:21
  • 11. [Isaiah 59:10]
  • 12. [Numbers 19:16]
  • 13. [Leviticus 13:45]
  • 14. Lamentations 2:17
  • 15. [Isaiah 24:2]
  • 16. Lamentations 5:12
  • 17. Psalms 119:82, 123; [Jeremiah 3:23]
  • 18. Psalms 119:82, 123; [Jeremiah 3:23]
  • 19. Jeremiah 37:7, 8
  • 20. Lamentations 3:52
  • 21. Ezek. 7:2, 3, 6; Amos 8:2

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Hebrew The face of the Lord
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.