Lamentations 4:17-22

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. ^[a] But He will punish your iniquity, O Daughter of Edom; He will expose your sins.

Lamentations 4:17-22 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] Or He will not exile you again