Lamentations 4:5-15

5 Those who used to eat delicacies are now destitute in the streets. Those who used to wear expensive clothes now pick through piles of garbage.

6 The punishment for my people's wickedness has been more severe than the punishment for the sins of Sodom. Sodom was destroyed instantly, without one human hand touching it.

7 Zion's princes were purer than snow, whiter than milk. Their bodies were more pink than coral. Their hair was like sapphires.

8 Their faces are [now] blacker than soot. No one recognizes them on the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones. It has become as dry as bark.

9 Those who were killed with swords are better off than those who are dying from starvation. Those who were stabbed bled to death. The others are dying because there is nothing in the fields to eat.

10 The hands of loving mothers cooked their own children. The children were used for food by my people when they were being destroyed [by a blockade].

11 The LORD's fury has accomplished his purpose. He unleashed his burning anger. He started a fire in Zion that even burned its foundations.

12 Neither the kings of the earth nor anyone living on earth could believe that enemies or invaders would ever get through the gates of Jerusalem.

13 [They got through] because of the sins of Jerusalem's prophets and the crimes of its priests, who spilled the blood of righteous people within it.

14 My people staggered blindly through the streets. They were so contaminated with bloodstains that no one would touch their clothes.

15 'Get away! You're unclean,' people yelled at them. 'Get away! Get away! Don't touch anyone.' When they fled and wandered around, the people of the nations said, 'They can't stay here any longer.'

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.