Lamentations 4:5

5 HE. They that feed on dainties are desolate in the streets: they that used to be nursed in scarlet have clothed themselves with dung.

Lamentations 4:5 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 4:5

They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets
That were brought up in the king's palace, or in the houses of noblemen; or, however, born of parents rich and wealthy, and had been used to good living, and had fared sumptuously and deliciously every day, were now wandering about in the streets in the most forlorn and distressed condition, seeking for food of any sort, but could find none to satisfy their hunger; and so, as the Vulgate Latin version renders it, perished in the ways or streets: they that were brought up in scarlet:
in dyed garments, as Jarchi; clothed with scarlet coloured ones, as was the manner of the richer and better sort of people, ( Proverbs 31:21 ) ; or, "brought up upon scarlet" ^F15; upon scarlet carpets, on which they used to sit and eat their food, as is the custom of the eastern people to this day: these embrace dunghills,
are glad of them, and with the greatest eagerness rake into them, in order to find something to feed upon, though ever so base and vile; or to sit and lie down upon. Aben Ezra interprets it of their being cast here when dead, and there was none to bury them.

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FOOTNOTES:

F15 (elwt yle) "super coccinum", Pagninus, Montanus; "super coccino", Piscator, Michaelis.

Lamentations 4:5 In-Context

3 GIMEL. Nay, serpents have drawn out the breasts, they give suck to their young, the daughters of my people are incurably cruel, as an ostrich in a desert.

4 DALETH. The tongue of the sucking child cleaves to the roof of its mouth for thirst: the little children ask for bread, there is none to break to them.

5 HE. They that feed on dainties are desolate in the streets: they that used to be nursed in scarlet have clothed themselves with dung.

6 VAU. And the iniquity of the daughter of my people has been increased beyond the iniquities of Sodoma, that was overthrown very suddenly, and none laboured against her hands.

7 ZAIN. Her Nazarites were made purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were purified with fire, their polishing was superior to sapphire stone.