Lamentations 4:9-19

9 Happier were the victims of the sword than the victims of hunger, who wasted away, pierced by lack of the fruits of the field.

10 ¹The hands of ²compassionate women ³have boiled their own children; ⁴they became their food during the destruction of the daughter of my people.

11 ⁵The Lord gave full vent to his wrath; he poured out his hot anger, and ⁶he kindled a fire in Zion that consumed its foundations.

12 ⁷The kings of the earth did not believe, nor any of the inhabitants of the world, that foe or enemy could enter the gates of Jerusalem.

13 This was for ⁸the sins of her prophets and ⁹the iniquities of her priests, who shed in the midst of her the blood of the righteous.

14 ¹⁰They wandered, blind, through the streets; they were so defiled with blood ¹¹that no one was able to touch their garments.

15 “Away! ¹²Unclean! ” people cried at them. “Away! Away! Do not touch! ”So they became fugitives and wanderers; people said among the nations, “They shall stay with us no longer. ”

16 ¹³The Lord himself^[a] has scattered them; he will regard them no more; ¹⁴no honor was shown to the priests, ¹⁵no favor to the elders.

17 ¹⁶Our eyes failed, ever watching ¹⁷vainly for help; in our watching we watched for ¹⁸a nation which could not save.

18 ¹⁹They dogged our steps so that we could not walk in our streets; ²⁰our end drew near; our days were numbered, for our end had come.

19 Our pursuers were ²¹swifter than the eagles in the heavens; they chased us on the mountains; they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.

Lamentations 4:9-19 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. 4:10 See Jer. 19:9
• 2. 4:10 [1 Kgs. 3:26; Isa. 49:15]
• 3. 4:10 [2 Kgs. 6:29]
• 4. 4:10 Deut. 28:57
• 5. 4:11 Ezek. 5:13
• 6. 4:11 See Jer. 17:27
• 7. 4:12 [Isa. 52:15; 53:1]
• 8. 4:13 [ch. 2:20]; See Jer. 5:31; 23:21
• 9. 4:13 [ch. 2:20]; See Jer. 5:31; 23:21
• 10. 4:14 [Isa. 59:10]
• 11. 4:14 [Num. 19:16]
• 12. 4:15 [Lev. 13:45]
• 13. 4:16 ch. 2:17
• 14. 4:16 [Isa. 24:2]
• 15. 4:16 ch. 5:12
• 16. 4:17 Ps. 119:82, 123; [Jer. 3:23]
• 17. 4:17 Ps. 119:82, 123; [Jer. 3:23]
• 18. 4:17 Jer. 37:7, 8
• 19. 4:18 ch. 3:52
• 20. 4:18 Ezek. 7:2, 3, 6; Amos 8:2
• 21. 4:19 Jer. 4:13; [2 Sam. 1:23; Hab. 1:8]

Footnotes

• [a] 4:16 Hebrew 'The face of the 'Lord