Lamentations 1:8

8 Jerusalem has sinned greatly and so has become unclean. All who honored her despise her, for they have all seen her naked; she herself groans and turns away.

Lamentations 1:8 in Other Translations

KJV
8 Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she is removed: all that honoured her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness: yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward.
ESV
8 Jerusalem sinned grievously; therefore she became filthy; all who honored her despise her, for they have seen her nakedness; she herself groans and turns her face away.
NLT
8 Jerusalem has sinned greatly, so she has been tossed away like a filthy rag. All who once honored her now despise her, for they have seen her stripped naked and humiliated. All she can do is groan and hide her face.
MSG
8 Jerusalem, who outsinned the whole world, is an outcast. All who admired her despise her now that they see beneath the surface. Miserable, she groans and turns away in shame.
CSB
8 Jerusalem has sinned grievously; therefore, she has become an object of scorn. All who honored her [now] despise her, for they have seen her nakedness. She herself groans and turns away.

Lamentations 1:8 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 1:8

Jerusalem hath grievously sinned
Or, "hath sinned a sin" {r}; a great sin, as the Targum; the sin of idolatry, according to some; or of covenant breaking, as others; though perhaps no particular sin is meant, but many grievous sins; since she was guilty of a multitude of them, as in ( Lamentations 1:5 ) ; therefore she is removed;
out of her own land, and carried captive into another: or, is "for commotion" F19; for scorn and derision; the head being moved and shook at her by way of contempt: or rather, "for separation" F20; she being like a menstruous woman, defiled and separate from society: all that honoured her despise her;
they that courted her friendship and alliance in the time of her prosperity, as the Egyptians, now neglected her, and treated her with the utmost contempt, being in adversity: because they have seen her nakedness;
being stripped of all her good things she before enjoyed; and both her weakness and her wickedness being exposed to public view. The allusion is either to harlots, or rather to modest women, when taken captive, whose nakedness is uncovered by the brutish and inhuman soldiers: yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward;
being covered with shame, because of the ill usage of her, as modest women will, being so used.


FOOTNOTES:

F18 (hajx ajx) "peccatum peccavit", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus.
F19 (hdynl) "in commotionem", Montanus, Vatablus, Calvin.
F20 "Ut separata", Grotius; "tanquam ex immunditia separata est", Junius & Tremellius.

Lamentations 1:8 In-Context

6 All the splendor has departed from Daughter Zion. Her princes are like deer that find no pasture; in weakness they have fled before the pursuer.
7 In the days of her affliction and wandering Jerusalem remembers all the treasures that were hers in days of old. When her people fell into enemy hands, there was no one to help her. Her enemies looked at her and laughed at her destruction.
8 Jerusalem has sinned greatly and so has become unclean. All who honored her despise her, for they have all seen her naked; she herself groans and turns away.
9 Her filthiness clung to her skirts; she did not consider her future. Her fall was astounding; there was none to comfort her. “Look, LORD, on my affliction, for the enemy has triumphed.”
10 The enemy laid hands on all her treasures; she saw pagan nations enter her sanctuary— those you had forbidden to enter your assembly.

Cross References 4

  • 1. ver 20; Isaiah 59:2-13
  • 2. S Jeremiah 2:22
  • 3. S Jeremiah 13:22,26
  • 4. ver 21,22; S Psalms 6:6; S Psalms 38:8
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