Lamentations 4:14-22

14 They wandered, ¹blind, in the streets; They were defiled with ²blood So that no one could touch their ³garments.

15 "Depart! ⁴Unclean!" they cried of themselves. "Depart, depart, do not touch!" So they ⁵fled and wandered; Men among the nations said, "They shall not continue to dwell with us."

16 The presence of the LORD has scattered them, He will not continue to regard them; They did not ⁶honor * the priests, They did not favor the elders.

17 Yet our eyes failed, Looking for help was ⁷useless; In our watching we have watched For a ⁸nation that could not save.

18 They ⁹hunted our steps So that we could not walk in our streets; Our ¹⁰end drew near, Our days were finished For our end had come.

19 Our pursuers were ¹¹swifter Than the eagles of the sky; They chased us on the mountains, They waited in ambush for us in the wilderness.

20 The ¹²breath of our nostrils, the ¹³LORD'S anointed, Was ¹⁴captured in their pits, Of whom we had said, "Under his ¹⁵shadow We shall live among the nations."

21 Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of ¹⁶Edom, Who dwells in the land of Uz; But the ¹⁷cup will come around to you as well, You will become drunk and make yourself naked.

22 The punishment of your iniquity has been ¹⁸completed, O daughter of Zion; He will exile you no longer. But He ¹⁹will punish your iniquity, O daughter of Edom; He will expose your sins!

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Lamentations 4:14-22 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 19

1. Deuteronomy 28:28, 29; Isaiah 29:10; Isaiah 56:10; Isaiah 59:9, 10
2. Isaiah 1:15
3. Jeremiah 2:34
4. Leviticus 13:45, 46
5. Jeremiah 49:5
6. Isaiah 9:14-16; Jeremiah 52:24-27
7. Jeremiah 37:7; Lamentations 1:7
8. Ezek 29:6, 7, 16
9. Jeremiah 16:16
10. Jeremiah 5:31; Ezekiel 7:2-12; Amos 8:2
11. Isaiah 5:26-28; Isaiah 30:16, 17; Jeremiah 4:13; Habakkuk 1:8
12. Genesis 2:7
13. 2 Samuel 1:14; 2 Samuel 19:21
14. Jeremiah 39:5; Jeremiah 52:9
15. Daniel 4:12
16. Psalms 137:7; Jeremiah 25:21
17. Obadiah 16
18. Isaiah 40:2; Jeremiah 33:7, 8
19. Jeremiah 49:10; Malachi 1:3, 4

Footnotes 4

[a]. Or "they" (men) "cried to them"
[b]. Lit "lift up the faces of"
[c]. Lit "our help"
[d]. Lit "full"

Lamentations 4:14-22

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Lamentations 4:14-22 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO LAMENTATIONS 4

Cross References 19

Footnotes 4