Lamentations 4:2-12

2 Zion's young people were as precious to us as gold, but now they are treated like common clay pots.

3 Even a mother wolf will nurse her cubs, but my people are like ostriches, cruel to their young.

4 They let their babies die of hunger and thirst; children are begging for food that no one will give them.

5 People who once ate the finest foods die starving in the streets; those raised in luxury are pawing through garbage for food.

6 My people have been punished even more than the inhabitants of Sodom, ¹ which met a sudden downfall at the hands of God.

7 Our princes were undefiled and pure as snow, vigorous and strong, glowing with health.

8 Now they lie unknown in the streets, their faces blackened in death; their skin, dry as wood, has shriveled on their bones.

9 Those who died in the war were better off than those who died later, who starved slowly to death, with no food to keep them alive.

10 The disaster that came to my people brought horror; ² loving mothers boiled their own children for food.

11 The Lord turned loose the full force of his fury; he lit a fire in Zion that burned it to the ground.

12 No one anywhere, not even rulers of foreign nations, believed that any invader could enter Jerusalem's gates.

Lamentations 4:2-12 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.

Cross References

• 1. 4.6Genesis 19.24.
• 2. 4.10Deuteronomy 28.57;Ezekiel 5.10.

Footnotes

• [a]. princes; [or] Nazirites.