Lamentations 4:1-6

The people’s suffering

1 Oh, no! Gold is tarnished; even the purest gold is changed. Sacred jewels are scattered on every street corner.

2 Zion's precious children, once valued as pure gold— oh no!—now they are worth no more than clay pots made by a potter.

3 Even jackals offer the breast; they nurse their young. But the daughter of my people has become cruel, like desert ostriches.

4 The baby's tongue sticks to the roof of its mouth, thirsty. Children ask for bread, beg for it—but there is no bread.

5 Those who once ate gourmet food now tremble in the streets. Those who wore the finest purple clothes now cling to piles of garbage.

6 Greater was the punishment of the daughter of my people than Sodom's penalty, which was quickly overthrown without any hand-wringing.

Lamentations 4:1-6 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] Heb uncertain
• [b] Or iniquity
• [c] Or sin
• [d] Heb uncertain