Lamentations 4:16

16 The LORD himself has scattered them. He doesn't watch over them anymore. No one shows the priests any respect. No one honors the elders.

Lamentations 4:16 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 4:16

The anger of the Lord hath divided them
Or, "the face of the Lord" F6; the anger that appeared in his face, in the dispensation of his providence, removed them out of their own land, and dispersed them among several countries and nations of the world, and as they now are: these are not the words of the Heathens continued, but of the prophet: he will no more regard them;
or, "he will not add to look on them" F7, with a look of love, but continue his anger and resentment: they respect not the persons of the priests, they favour not the
elders;
which is to be considered either as the sin of the false prophets and priests before described, which was the cause of their punishment; that they east great contempt on the true prophets of the Lord, as Jeremiah and others, and showed no regard to the elders of the people, or those godly magistrates; who would have corrected and restrained them: or else this is said of the nations among whom they were dispersed, as the Targum; who would pay no respect to their characters as priests, or show any pity to them on account of their age.


FOOTNOTES:

F6 (hwhy ynp) "facies Domini", V. L. Montanus, Piscator.
F7 (Mjybhl Pyowy) "non addet aspicere eos", Montanus.

Lamentations 4:16 In-Context

14 Now those prophets and priests have to feel their way along the streets like people who are blind. The blood of those they killed has made them "unclean." So no one dares even to touch their clothes.
15 "Go away! You are 'unclean'!" people cry out to them. "Go away! Get out of here! Don't touch us!" So they run away and wander around. Then people among the nations say, "They can't stay here anymore."
16 The LORD himself has scattered them. He doesn't watch over them anymore. No one shows the priests any respect. No one honors the elders.
17 And that's not all. Our eyes grew tired. We looked for help that never came. We watched from our towers. We kept looking for a nation that couldn't save us.
18 People hunted us down no matter where we went. We couldn't even walk in our streets. Our end was near. We only had a few days to live. Our end had come.
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