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Lamentations 4

KJV · Chapter 4/5

1How 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.

2The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!

3Even 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.

4The 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.

5They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets: they that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.

6For 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.

7Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was of sapphire:

8Their 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.

9They 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.

10The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

11The 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.

12The 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.

13For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her,

14They have wandered as blind men in the streets, they have polluted themselves with blood, so that men could not touch their garments.

15They 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.

16The 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.

17As 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.

18They hunt our steps, that we cannot go in our streets: our end is near, our days are fulfilled; for our end is come.

19Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the heaven: they pursued us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness.

20The 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.

21Rejoice 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.

22The 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.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

The poet contrasts Jerusalem's former glory, whose nobles were 'purer than snow,' with its present desolation, where even mothers cooked their own children during the famine of the siege. He acknowledges that the city's wickedness was greater than Sodom's, and blames the false prophets and corrupt priests for this collapse.

Explanation

The comparison between the former physical splendor of Jerusalem's nobles (v. 7) and their present skeletal, famine-blackened appearance (v. 8) uses shocking contrast to convey the extent of the catastrophe experienced during the two-year Babylonian siege (588-586 B.C.). The statement that Jerusalem's wickedness was 'greater... than the sin of Sodom' is a very serious accusation, since Sodom was the classic biblical example of a city destroyed for extreme wickedness (Genesis 19). The chapter also directly blames 'the sins of her prophets' and 'the iniquities of her priests' who shed innocent blood, showing that the corruption of religious leadership played a central role in the national tragedy. The practical application today is that spiritual and moral leaders carry additional responsibility for the consequences of their failures, since their mistakes affect an entire community.

Fun facts

  • The Babylonian siege of Jerusalem lasted approximately eighteen months to two years (589-586 B.C.), long enough to cause severe famine within the city walls, as confirmed both by this text and by the book of 2 Kings 25.
  • The mention of 'the anointed of the Lord' being 'taken in their pits' (v. 20) likely refers to the capture of King Zedekiah, the last king of Judah, who tried to flee but was captured by the Babylonians, as narrated in 2 Kings 25:4-7.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Lamentations 4:1The darkened gold and the sanctuary's precious stones scattered in the streets aren't only about lost material wealth. The same image describes, in the next verse, the very children of Zion, once valued like pure gold, now treated like any ordinary clay pot.
  2. Lamentations 4:2Compares the children of Zion, once as precious as pure gold, to plain, ordinary clay vessels — the same drop in value described for the temple's objects now applied to people.
  3. Lamentations 4:3Comparing the people to ostriches, which according to ancient belief abandoned their own eggs, is a harsh accusation. Even animals thought to be bad parents cared more for their young than Jerusalem cared for her own children during the siege.
  4. Lamentations 4:4Describes children with their tongue stuck to the roof of the mouth from thirst, asking for bread with no one to give it — the famine of the siege striking the most defenseless first.
  5. Lamentations 4:5A shocking contrast: those who once ate delicacies now faint in the streets, and those who lived in fine clothing end up hugging garbage heaps in search of anything usable.
  6. Lamentations 4:6Saying Jerusalem's wickedness was greater than Sodom's is shocking, since Sodom was the classic biblical example of a city destroyed for extreme sin (Genesis 19). But the text explains the difference: Sodom fell in a single moment, while Jerusalem endured a slow, prolonged siege.
  7. Lamentations 4:7Describes the Nazirites, people consecrated to God who were usually healthy-looking and well cared for, as physically flawless before the siege — whiter than snow and milk, ruddier than rubies.
  8. Lamentations 4:8The same elegant group from the previous verse is now unrecognizable: skin blackened, sticking to the bones, dry as wood — the famine completely transformed their human appearance.
  9. Lamentations 4:9Compares those killed by the sword to those killed by hunger, concluding that dying quickly in war was, in a way, less cruel than slowly wasting away without food.
  10. Lamentations 4:10Here the same scene that was only a rhetorical question in 2:20 appears as an accomplished fact: mothers cooking their own children during the famine of the siege. It's the book's most extreme point, told with no embellishment, as part of the real cost of a city besieged to the complete exhaustion of its food supply.
  11. Lamentations 4:11Describes God's wrath fully carried out: fire in Zion that consumed even the city's own foundations — total, not partial, destruction.
  12. Lamentations 4:12Neither kings nor peoples of the world believed an enemy could ever get through Jerusalem's gates — the city was seen as practically unconquerable, which makes its fall all the more shocking.
  13. Lamentations 4:13Directly points to the prophets and priests as responsible, guilty of shedding innocent blood inside the city itself — the corrupted religious leadership as the direct cause of the disaster.
  14. Lamentations 4:14Describes those same leaders wandering blindly through the streets, stained with blood, to the point that no one dared touch their clothing.
  15. Lamentations 4:15People shout for these contaminated figures to get away, treating them as unclean; even fleeing to other nations, word spread that they would never have a settled place again.
  16. Lamentations 4:16God Himself scattered them and will no longer look on them with favor — the consequence of disrespecting both the priests and the elders of the community.
  17. Lamentations 4:17Describes the vain hope for foreign help, probably from Egypt, which never arrived effectively — eyes grew weary waiting for aid that never came.
  18. Lamentations 4:18The pursuers watched every step, preventing any free movement through the streets — a sign that the end of resistance was near and unavoidable.
  19. Lamentations 4:19Compares the pursuers to birds of prey, faster than the fleeing people, hunting them both on the mountains and ambushing them in the wilderness.
  20. Lamentations 4:20'The anointed of the Lord' refers to King Zedekiah himself, captured in the pits he tried to flee through — the hope of protection under his shadow was shattered with his capture.
  21. Lamentations 4:21Ironically invites Edom, who likely cheered Judah's fall, to rejoice for now — but warns that the same 'cup' of judgment will reach them too, as in Jeremiah's oracles against Edom.
  22. Lamentations 4:22Ends on a note of hope for Zion: her punishment is already complete and will not be repeated, while Edom's sin is still to be exposed and judged.

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