Lamentations 4:1-10

1 See how the gold has lost its shine, how the pure gold has dulled! at every street corner.

2 The precious people of Jerusalem were more valuable than gold, but now they are thought of as clay jars made by the hands of a potter.

3 Even wild dogs give their milk to feed their young, but my people are cruel like ostriches in the desert.

4 The babies are so thirsty their tongues stick to the roofs of their mouths. Children beg for bread, but no one gives them any.

5 Those who once ate fine foods are now starving in the streets. People who grew up wearing nice clothes now pick through trash piles.

6 My people have been punished more than Sodom was. Sodom was destroyed suddenly, and no hands reached out to help her.

7 Our princes were purer than snow, and whiter than milk. Their bodies were redder than rubies; they looked like sapphires.

8 But now they are blacker than coal, and no one recognizes them in the streets. Their skin hangs on their bones; it is as dry as wood.

9 Those who were killed in the war were better off than those killed by hunger. They starve in pain and die, because there is no food from the field.

10 With their own hands kind women cook their own children. They became food when my people were destroyed.

Lamentations 4:1-10 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.