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Lamentations 4

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The Horror of the Siege and Famine 1–10

1
How is the gold become dim! how is the most fine gold changed! the stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of every street. ​
2
The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter! ​
3
Even the sea monsters draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones: the daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness. ​
4
The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst: the young children ask bread, and no man breaketh it unto them.
5
They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets: they that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.
6
For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands stayed on her. ​
7
Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was of sapphire: ​
8
Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets: their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick.
9
They that be slain with the sword are better than they that be slain with hunger: for these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the field.
10
The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people. ​

God's Judgment Accomplished 11–16

11
The LORD hath accomplished his fury; he hath poured out his fierce anger, and hath kindled a fire in Zion, and it hath devoured the foundations thereof. ​
12
The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the world, would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy should have entered into the gates of Jerusalem. ​
13
For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her, ​
14
They have wandered as blind men in the streets, they have polluted themselves with blood, so that men could not touch their garments.
15
They cried unto them, Depart ye; it is unclean; depart, depart, touch not: when they fled away and wandered, they said among the heathen, They shall no more sojourn there.
16
The anger of the LORD hath divided them; he will no more regard them: they respected not the persons of the priests, they favoured not the elders.

The Failure of Foreign Help 17–20

17
As for us, our eyes as yet failed for our vain help: in our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save us. ​
18
They hunt our steps, that we cannot go in our streets: our end is near, our days are fulfilled; for our end is come.
19
Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the heaven: they pursued us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness.
20
The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the LORD, was taken in their pits, of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the heathen. ​

A Promise of Judgment for Edom 21–22

21
Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Uz; the cup also shall pass through unto thee: thou shalt be drunken, and shalt make thyself naked. ​
22
The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion; he will no more carry thee away into captivity: he will visit thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom; he will discover thy sins. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Lamentations 4

Verse 1

How is the gold become dim! — The 'How' of 1:1 and 2:1 begins this chapter too. 'Gold' and 'most fine gold' stand for what the city was, as in Isa 1:22, 'Thy silver is become dross'. 'Poured out' is shaphak, the verb used again of the LORD's anger in v.11 and of the blood 'shed' in v.13. The 'stones of the sanctuary' are poured out in every street after the house was burned (2 Kgs 25:9).

Verse 2

the precious sons of Zion — 'Precious' (yaqar) are 'comparable to fine gold', yet 'esteemed as earthen pitchers' (nevel, a jar, as for a 'bottle of wine' in 1 Sam 1:24). The potter's work breaks (Isa 30:14; Jer 19:11), but Isa 64:8 says of the same hands, 'we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand'.

Verse 3

the daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches — 'Ostriches' is ya'en, a word found only here. The bird 'leaveth her eggs in the earth… She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers' (Job 39:14–16). 'Sea monsters' is tannin, the word for the 'great whales' of Gen 1:21; even they nurse their young.

Verse 6

the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people — 'Punishment' stands for the Hebrew nouns avon and chatta'ah, 'iniquity' and 'sin', which also carry what they bring. Sodom was 'overthrown as in a moment' (Gen 19:25), and Ezek 16:48 says 'Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done'. Christ says it will be 'more tolerable' for Sodom (Matt 11:24).

Verse 7

Her Nazarites were purer than snow — Nazir, 'separated', is the one under the vow of Num 6:2, who let no razor come on his head (Judg 13:5). The word is also used of Joseph, 'separate from his brethren' (Gen 49:26; Deut 33:16). 'Whiter than snow' recalls Ps 51:7, and ruddy health was David's mark (1 Sam 16:12).

Verse 10

The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children — 'Pitiful' is rachaman, compassionate, the quality of Isa 49:15, 'Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion'. The horror was foretold in the covenant curses (Lev 26:29; Deut 28:53) and by Jeremiah (19:9), and 2 Kgs 6:28–29 records it in an earlier siege.

Verse 11

The LORD hath accomplished his fury — 'Accomplished' is kalah, to finish, the verb of the eyes that 'failed' in v.17. The fire was threatened in Jer 17:27, 'then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched'. 'Poured out' (shaphak) is the verb of vv.1 and 13.

Verse 12

the adversary and the enemy should have entered into the gates of Jerusalem — The belief rested on the psalms: 'God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved' (Ps 46:5), and 'the kings were assembled, they passed by together… they were troubled, and hasted away' (Ps 48:4–5). Deut 29:24 and 1 Kgs 9:8–9 had said that nations would ask why the LORD had done this.

Verse 13

the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests — Jeremiah named them: 'The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means' (Jer 5:31). 'The blood of the just' (tsaddiq) is what the priests and prophets sought when they took Jeremiah, saying 'Thou shalt surely die' (26:8, 11). Christ speaks of 'all the righteous blood shed upon the earth' (Matt 23:35).

Verse 17

for our vain help — 'Vain' is hebel, breath, the word of Isa 30:7, 'the Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose'. When Pharaoh's army came out the Chaldeans left Jerusalem for a time (Jer 37:5), but the word was that it would 'return to Egypt into their own land' (37:7). 'Watching… watched' is tsaphah, the keeping of a watchman.

Verse 20

the anointed of the LORD — Mashiach, the title of the king of David's line (1 Sam 24:6, 'the LORD'S anointed'). He is 'the breath of our nostrils', the breath of life of Gen 2:7. 'Taken in their pits' answers the net of Ezek 12:13, 'he shall be taken in my snare', and Zedekiah's capture 'in the plains of Jericho' (Jer 39:5).

Verse 21

O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Uz — Edom is named in the nations' cup (Jer 25:21), and Uz is the land of Job (Job 1:1), which the cup also reaches (Jer 25:20). The word of Jer 49:12 was 'they whose judgment was not to drink of the cup have assuredly drunken'. The rejoicing is the sin of Obad 12, and 'as ye have drunk… so shall all the heathen drink' (Obad 16).

Verse 22

The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished — The word is tamam, to be complete; Isa 40:2 has another verb, 'her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned'. 'Carry thee away into captivity' and 'discover' (in 'discover thy sins') are one verb, galah, to uncover or to carry into exile. Edom's iniquity is 'visited' (paqad), the verb of the LORD's reckoning.