Lamentations 4:1-11

1 How the gold has lost its luster! Even the finest gold has become dull. The sacred gemstones lie scattered in the streets!

2 See how the precious children of Jerusalem, worth their weight in fine gold, are now treated like pots of clay made by a common potter.

3 Even the jackals feed their young, but not my people Israel. They ignore their children’s cries, like ostriches in the desert.

4 The parched tongues of their little ones stick to the roofs of their mouths in thirst. The children cry for bread, but no one has any to give them.

5 The people who once ate the richest foods now beg in the streets for anything they can get. Those who once wore the finest clothes now search the garbage dumps for food.

6 The guilt of my people is greater than that of Sodom, where utter disaster struck in a moment and no hand offered help.

7 Our princes once glowed with health— brighter than snow, whiter than milk. Their faces were as ruddy as rubies, their appearance like fine jewels.

8 But now their faces are blacker than soot. No one recognizes them in the streets. Their skin sticks to their bones; it is as dry and hard as wood.

9 Those killed by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger. Starving, they waste away for lack of food from the fields.

10 Tenderhearted women have cooked their own children. They have eaten them to survive the siege.

11 But now the anger of the LORD is satisfied. His fierce anger has been poured out. He started a fire in Jerusalem that burned the city to its foundations.

Lamentations 4:1-11 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew precious sons of Zion.
• [b]. Or punishment.
• [c]. Hebrew like lapis lazuli.
• [d]. Hebrew in Zion.