Lamentations 4:18

18 They stalked our every step, so that we could not walk in our streets. Our end drew near, our time ran out, for our end had come!

Lamentations 4:18 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 4:18

They hunt our steps, that we cannot go in our streets
The Chaldeans, from their forts and batteries, as they could see, they watched the people as they came out of their houses, and walked about the streets, and shot their arrows at them; so that they were obliged to keep within doors, and not stir out, which they could not do without great danger: our end is near, for our days are fulfilled; for our end is come;
either the end of their lives, the days, months, and years appointed for them being fulfilled; or the end of their commonwealth, the end of their civil and church state, at least as they thought; the time appointed for their destruction was not only near at hand, but was actually come; it was all over with them.

Lamentations 4:18 In-Context

16 The presence of the LORD has scattered them; He regards them no more. The priests are shown no honor; the elders find no favor.

17 All the while our eyes were failing as we looked in vain for help. We watched from our towers for a nation that could not save us.

18 They stalked our every step, so that we could not walk in our streets. Our end drew near, our time ran out, for our end had come!

19 Those who chased us were swifter than the eagles in the sky; they pursued us over the mountains and ambushed us in the wilderness.

20 The LORD’s anointed, the breath of our life, was captured in their pits. We had said of him, “Under his shadow we will live among the nations.”