Lamentations 4:8-18

8 Their appearance is ¹blacker than soot, They are not recognized in the streets; Their ²skin is shriveled on their bones, It is withered, it has become like wood.

9 Better are those ³slain with the sword Than those slain with hunger; For they ⁴pine away, being stricken For lack of the fruits of the field.

10 The hands of compassionate women ⁵Boiled their own children; They became ⁶food for them Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.

11 The LORD has ⁷accomplished His wrath, He has poured out His fierce anger; And He has ⁸kindled a fire in Zion Which has consumed its foundations.

12 The kings of the earth did not believe, Nor did any of ⁹the inhabitants of the world, That the adversary and the enemy Could ¹⁰enter the gates of Jerusalem.

13 Because of the sins of her ¹¹prophets And the iniquities of her priests, Who have shed in her midst The ¹²blood of the righteous;

14 They wandered, ¹³blind, in the streets; They were defiled with ¹⁴blood So that no one could touch their ¹⁵garments.

15 "Depart! ¹⁶Unclean!" they cried of themselves. "Depart, depart, do not touch!" So they ¹⁷fled 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 ¹⁸honor * the priests, They did not favor the elders.

17 Yet our eyes failed, Looking for help was ¹⁹useless; In our watching we have watched For a ²⁰nation that could not save.

18 They ²¹hunted our steps So that we could not walk in our streets; Our ²²end drew near, Our days were finished 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 22

1. Job 30:30; Lamentations 5:10
2. Job 19:20; Psalms 102:3-5
3. Jeremiah 16:4
4. Leviticus 26:39; Ezekiel 24:23
5. Leviticus 26:29; Deuteronomy 28:57; 2 Kings 6:29; Jeremiah 19:9; Lamentations 2:20; Ezekiel 5:10
6. Deuteronomy 28:53-55
7. Jeremiah 7:20; Lamentations 2:17; Ezekiel 22:31
8. Deuteronomy 32:22; Jeremiah 17:27
9. Deuteronomy 29:24
10. Jeremiah 21:13
11. Jeremiah 5:31; Jeremiah 6:13; Lamentations 2:14; Ezekiel 22:26-28
12. Jeremiah 2:30; Jeremiah 26:8, 9; Matthew 23:31
13. Deuteronomy 28:28, 29; Isaiah 29:10; Isaiah 56:10; Isaiah 59:9, 10
14. Isaiah 1:15
15. Jeremiah 2:34
16. Leviticus 13:45, 46
17. Jeremiah 49:5
18. Isaiah 9:14-16; Jeremiah 52:24-27
19. Jeremiah 37:7; Lamentations 1:7
20. Ezek 29:6, 7, 16
21. Jeremiah 16:16
22. Jeremiah 5:31; Ezekiel 7:2-12; Amos 8:2

Footnotes 8

[a]. Lit "pierced"
[b]. Lit "pierced"
[c]. Lit "flow away"
[d]. Lit "my fields"
[e]. Or "they" (men) "cried to them"
[f]. Lit "lift up the faces of"
[g]. Lit "our help"
[h]. Lit "full"