Lamentations 4

The Distress of Zion

1 How ^[a] the gold has become tarnished, the pure gold has become dull! The gems of the temple lie scattered on every street corner.

2 How the precious sons of Zion, once worth their weight in pure gold, are now esteemed as jars of clay, the work of a potter’s hands!

3 Even jackals ^[b] offer their breasts to nurse their young, but the daughter of my people has become cruel, like an ostrich in the wilderness.

4 The nursing infant’s tongue clings in thirst to the roof of his mouth. Little children beg for bread, but no one gives them any.

5 Those who once ate delicacies are destitute in the streets; those brought up in crimson huddle in ash heaps.

6 The punishment ^[c] of the daughter of my people is greater than that of Sodom, which was overthrown in an instant without a hand turned to help her.

7 Her dignitaries were brighter than snow, whiter than milk; their bodies were more ruddy than rubies, their appearance ^[d] like sapphires. ^[e]

8 But now their appearance is blacker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones; it has become as dry as a stick.

9 Those slain by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger, who waste away, pierced with pain because the fields lack produce.

10 The hands of compassionate women have cooked their own children, who became their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

11 The LORD has exhausted His wrath; He has poured out His fierce anger; He has kindled a fire in Zion, and it has consumed her foundations.

12 The kings of the earth did not believe, nor any people of the world, that an enemy or a foe could enter the gates of Jerusalem.

13 But this was for the sins of her prophets and the guilt of her priests, who shed the blood of the righteous in her midst.

14 They wandered blind in the streets, defiled by this blood, so that no one dared to touch their garments.

15 “Go away! Unclean!” men shouted at them. “Away, away! Do not touch us!” So they fled and wandered. Among the nations it was said, “They can stay here no longer.”

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.”

21 So rejoice and be glad, O Daughter of Edom, you who dwell in the land of Uz. Yet the cup will pass to you as well; you will get drunk and expose yourself.

22 O Daughter of Zion, your punishment is complete; He will not prolong your exile. ^[f] But He will punish your iniquity, O Daughter of Edom; He will expose your sins.

Lamentations 4 Commentary

Chapter 4

The deplorable state of the nation is contrasted with its ancient prosperity.

Verses 1-12 What a change is here! Sin tarnishes the beauty of the most exalted powers and the most excellent gifts; but that gold, tried in the fire, which Christ bestows, never will be taken from us; its outward appearance may be dimmed, but its real value can never be changed. The horrors of the siege and destruction of Jerusalem are again described. Beholding the sad consequences of sin in the church of old, let us seriously consider to what the same causes may justly bring down the church now. But, Lord, though we have gone from thee in rebellion, yet turn to us, and turn our hearts to thee, that we may fear thy name. Come to us, bless us with awakening, converting, renewing, confirming grace.

Verses 13-20 Nothing ripens a people more for ruin, nor fills the measure faster, than the sins of priests and prophets. The king himself cannot escape, for Divine vengeance pursues him. Our anointed King alone is the life of our souls; we may safely live under his shadow, and rejoice in Him in the midst of our enemies, for He is the true God and eternal life.

Verses 21-22 Here it is foretold that an end should be put to Zion's troubles. Not the fulness of punishment deserved, but of what God has determined to inflict. An end shall be put to Edom's triumphs. All the troubles of the church and of the believer will soon be accomplished. And the doom of their enemies approaches. The Lord will bring their sins to light, and they shall lie down in eternal sorrow. Edom here represents all the enemies of the church. And the corruption, and sin of Israel, which the prophet has proved to be universal, justifies the judgments of the Lord. It shows the need of that grace in Christ Jesus, which the sin and corruption of all mankind make so necessary.

Footnotes

• [a]. This chapter is an acrostic poem, each verse beginning with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
• [b]. Or serpents or dragons
• [c]. Or iniquity
• [d]. Or their polishing or their hair
• [e]. Hebrew lapis lazuli
• [f]. Or He will not exile you again

Chapter Summary

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.