Lamentations 4:5-15

5 Those who ate ¹delicacies Are desolate in the streets; Those reared in purple Embrace ash pits.

6 For the iniquity of the daughter of my people Is greater than the ²sin of Sodom, Which was ³overthrown as in a moment, And no hands were turned toward her.

7 Her consecrated ones were ⁴purer than snow, They were whiter than milk; They were more ruddy in body than corals, Their polishing was like ⁵lapis lazuli.

8 Their appearance is ⁶blacker than soot, They are not recognized in the streets; Their ⁷skin is shriveled on their bones, It is withered, it has become like wood.

9 Better are those ⁸slain with the sword Than those slain with hunger; For they ⁹pine away, being stricken For lack of the fruits of the field.

10 The hands of compassionate women ¹⁰Boiled their own children; They became ¹¹food for them Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.

11 The LORD has ¹²accomplished His wrath, He has poured out His fierce anger; And He has ¹³kindled a fire in Zion Which has consumed its foundations.

12 The kings of the earth did not believe, Nor did any of ¹⁴the inhabitants of the world, That the adversary and the enemy Could ¹⁵enter the gates of Jerusalem.

13 Because of the sins of her ¹⁶prophets And the iniquities of her priests, Who have shed in her midst The ¹⁷blood of the righteous;

14 They wandered, ¹⁸blind, in the streets; They were defiled with ¹⁹blood So that no one could touch their ²⁰garments.

15 "Depart! ²¹Unclean!" they cried of themselves. "Depart, depart, do not touch!" So they ²²fled and wandered; Men among the nations said, "They shall not continue to dwell with us."

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Lamentations 4:5-15 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 22

1. Jeremiah 6:2; Amos 6:3-7
2. Genesis 19:24
3. Genesis 19:25; Jeremiah 20:16
4. Psalms 51:7
5. Exodus 24:10; Job 28:16
6. Job 30:30; Lamentations 5:10
7. Job 19:20; Psalms 102:3-5
8. Jeremiah 16:4
9. Leviticus 26:39; Ezekiel 24:23
10. Leviticus 26:29; Deuteronomy 28:57; 2 Kings 6:29; Jeremiah 19:9; Lamentations 2:20; Ezekiel 5:10
11. Deuteronomy 28:53-55
12. Jeremiah 7:20; Lamentations 2:17; Ezekiel 22:31
13. Deuteronomy 32:22; Jeremiah 17:27
14. Deuteronomy 29:24
15. Jeremiah 21:13
16. Jeremiah 5:31; Jeremiah 6:13; Lamentations 2:14; Ezekiel 22:26-28
17. Jeremiah 2:30; Jeremiah 26:8, 9; Matthew 23:31
18. Deuteronomy 28:28, 29; Isaiah 29:10; Isaiah 56:10; Isaiah 59:9, 10
19. Isaiah 1:15
20. Jeremiah 2:34
21. Leviticus 13:45, 46
22. Jeremiah 49:5

Footnotes 12

[a]. Lit "established in crimson"
[b]. Or "punishment for iniquity"
[c]. Or "punishment for sin"
[d]. Or "wrung over her"
[e]. Or "Nazirites"
[f]. Lit "bones"
[g]. Heb "sappir"
[h]. Lit "pierced"
[i]. Lit "pierced"
[j]. Lit "flow away"
[k]. Lit "my fields"
[l]. Or "they" (men) "cried to them"

Lamentations 4:5-15

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Lamentations 4:5-15 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO LAMENTATIONS 4

Cross References 22

Footnotes 12