Lamentations 4:10-20

10 The hands of compassionate women ¹Boiled their own children; They became ²food for them Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.

11 The LORD has ³accomplished His wrath, He has poured out His fierce anger; And He has ⁴kindled a fire in Zion Which has consumed its foundations.

12 The kings of the earth did not believe, Nor did any of ⁵the inhabitants of the world, That the adversary and the enemy Could ⁶enter the gates of Jerusalem.

13 Because of the sins of her ⁷prophets And the iniquities of her priests, Who have shed in her midst The ⁸blood of the righteous;

14 They wandered, ⁹blind, in the streets; They were defiled with ¹⁰blood So that no one could touch their ¹¹garments.

15 "Depart! ¹²Unclean!" they cried of themselves. "Depart, depart, do not touch!" So they ¹³fled and wandered; Men among the nations said, "They shall not continue to dwell with us."

16 The presence of the LORD has scattered them, He will not continue to regard them; They did not ¹⁴honor * the priests, They did not favor the elders.

17 Yet our eyes failed, Looking for help was ¹⁵useless; In our watching we have watched For a ¹⁶nation that could not save.

18 They ¹⁷hunted our steps So that we could not walk in our streets; Our ¹⁸end drew near, Our days were finished For our end had come.

19 Our pursuers were ¹⁹swifter Than the eagles of the sky; They chased us on the mountains, They waited in ambush for us in the wilderness.

20 The ²⁰breath of our nostrils, the ²¹LORD'S anointed, Was ²²captured in their pits, Of whom we had said, "Under his ²³shadow We shall live among the nations."

Lamentations 4:10-20 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. Leviticus 26:29; Deuteronomy 28:57; 2 Kings 6:29; Jeremiah 19:9; Lamentations 2:20; Ezekiel 5:10
• 2. Deuteronomy 28:53-55
• 3. Jeremiah 7:20; Lamentations 2:17; Ezekiel 22:31
• 4. Deuteronomy 32:22; Jeremiah 17:27
• 5. Deuteronomy 29:24
• 6. Jeremiah 21:13
• 7. Jeremiah 5:31; Jeremiah 6:13; Lamentations 2:14; Ezekiel 22:26-28
• 8. Jeremiah 2:30; Jeremiah 26:8, 9; Matthew 23:31
• 9. Deuteronomy 28:28, 29; Isaiah 29:10; Isaiah 56:10; Isaiah 59:9, 10
• 10. Isaiah 1:15
• 11. Jeremiah 2:34
• 12. Leviticus 13:45, 46
• 13. Jeremiah 49:5
• 14. Isaiah 9:14-16; Jeremiah 52:24-27
• 15. Jeremiah 37:7; Lamentations 1:7
• 16. Ezek 29:6, 7, 16
• 17. Jeremiah 16:16
• 18. Jeremiah 5:31; Ezekiel 7:2-12; Amos 8:2
• 19. Isaiah 5:26-28; Isaiah 30:16, 17; Jeremiah 4:13; Habakkuk 1:8
• 20. Genesis 2:7
• 21. 2 Samuel 1:14; 2 Samuel 19:21
• 22. Jeremiah 39:5; Jeremiah 52:9
• 23. Daniel 4:12

Footnotes

• [a] Or "they" (men) "cried to them"
• [b] Lit "lift up the faces of"
• [c] Lit "our help"
• [d] Lit "full"