Lamentations · Brenton's English Septuagint
Lamentations 4 Brenton's English Septuagint
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (2)
- Square brackets mark words Brenton supplied for English sense.
- Old Testament only (no New Testament). First printed 1844; the 1851 edition added the deuterocanonical books.
1 Aleph. How will the gold be tarnished, [and] the fine silver changed! the sacred stones have been poured forth at the top of all the streets.
1 How the gold has become dim! The most pure gold has changed! The stones of the sanctuary are poured out at the head of every street.
2 Beth. The precious sons of Zion, who were equalled in value with gold, how are they counted as earthen vessels, the works of the hands of the potter!
2 The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how they are esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!
3 Gimel. Nay, serpents have drawn out the breasts, they give suck to their young, the daughters of my people are incurably cruel, as an ostrich in a desert.
3 Even the jackals offer their breast. They nurse their young ones. But the daughter of my people has become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.
4 Daleth. The tongue of the sucking child cleaves to the roof of its mouth for thirst: the little children ask for bread, [and] there is none to break [it] to them.
4 The tongue of the nursing child clings to the roof of his mouth for thirst. The young children ask for bread, and no one breaks it for them.
5 He. They that feed on dainties are desolate in the streets: they that used to be nursed in scarlet have clothed themselves with dung.
5 Those who ate delicacies are desolate in the streets. Those who were brought up in purple embrace dunghills.
6 Vau. And the iniquity of the daughter of my people has been increased beyond the iniquities of Sodoma, [the city] that was overthrown very suddenly, and none laboured against her [with their] hands.
6 For the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the sin of Sodom, which was overthrown as in a moment. No hands were laid on her.
7 Zain. Her Nazarites were made purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were purified [as] with fire, their polishing was superior to sapphire stone.
7 Her nobles were purer than snow. They were whiter than milk. They were more ruddy in body than rubies. Their polishing was like sapphire.
8 Heth. Their countenance is become blacker than smoke; they are not known in the streets: their skin has cleaved to their bones; they are withered, they are become as a stick.
8 Their appearance is blacker than a coal. They are not known in the streets. Their skin clings to their bones. It is withered. It has become like wood.
9 Teth. The slain with the sword were better than they that were slain with hunger: they have departed, pierced through from [want of] the fruits of the field.
9 Those who are killed with the sword are better than those who are killed with hunger; for these pine away, stricken through, for lack of the fruits of the field.
10 Jod. The hands of tender-hearted women have sodden their own children: they became meat for them in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
10 The hands of the pitiful women have boiled their own children. They were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
11 Chaph. The Lord has accomplished his wrath; he has poured out his fierce anger, and has kindled a fire in Sion, and it has devoured her foundations.
11 Yahweh has accomplished his wrath. He has poured out his fierce anger. He has kindled a fire in Zion, which has devoured its foundations.
12 Lamed. The kings of the earth, [even] all that dwell in the world, believed not that an enemy and oppressor would enter through the gates of Jerusalem.
12 The kings of the earth didn’t believe, neither did all the inhabitants of the world, that the adversary and the enemy would enter into the gates of Jerusalem.
13 Mem. For the sins of her prophets, [and] iniquities of her priests, who shed righteous blood in the midst of her,
13 It is because of the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the middle of her.
14 Nun. her watchmen staggered in the streets, they were defiled with blood in their weakness, they touched their raiment [with it].
14 They wander as blind men in the streets. They are polluted with blood, So that men can’t touch their garments.
15 Samech. Depart ye from the unclean ones: call ye them: depart, depart, touch [them] not: for they are on fire, yea, they stagger: say ye among the nations, They shall no more sojourn [there].
15 “Go away!” they cried to them. “Unclean! Go away! Go away! Don’t touch! When they fled away and wandered, men said among the nations, “They can’t live here any more.”
16 Ain. The presence of the Lord [was] their portion; [but] he will not again look upon them: they regarded not the person of the priests, they pitied not the prophets.
16 Yahweh’s anger has scattered them. He will not pay attention to them any more. They didn’t respect the persons of the priests. They didn’t favor the elders.
17 Phe. While we yet lived our eyes failed, while we looked in vain for our help. Tsade. We looked to a nation that could not save.
17 Our eyes still fail, looking in vain for our help. In our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save.
18 We have hunted [for] our little ones, that they should not walk in our streets. Koph. Our time has drawn nigh, our days are fulfilled, our time is come.
18 They hunt our steps, so that we can’t go in our streets. Our end is near. Our days are fulfilled, for our end has come.
19 Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the sky, they flew on the mountains, in the wilderness they laid wait for us.
19 Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the sky. They chased us on the mountains. They set an ambush for us in the wilderness.
20 Rechs. The breath of our nostrils, [our] anointed Lord, was taken in their destructive snares, of whom we said, In his shadow we shall live among the Gentiles.
20 The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of Yahweh, was taken in their pits; of whom we said, under his shadow we will live among the nations.
21 Chsen. Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Idumea, that dwellest in the land: yet the cup of the Lord shall pass through to thee: thou shalt be drunken, and pour forth.
21 Rejoice and be glad, daughter of Edom, who dwells in the land of Uz. The cup will pass through to you also. You will be drunken, and will make yourself naked.
22 Thau. O daughter of Sion, thine iniquity has come to an end; he shall no more carry thee captive: he has visited thine iniquities, O daughter of Edom; he has discovered thy sins.
22 The punishment of your iniquity is accomplished, daughter of Zion. He will no more carry you away into captivity. He will visit your iniquity, daughter of Edom. He will uncover your sins.
Cross references (22)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Ezekiel 7:19–22; Lamentations 2:19; Isaiah 1:21; 2 Kings 25:9–10; Jeremiah 52:13
- 2 Isaiah 30:14; Romans 9:21–23; Jeremiah 19:11; 2 Timothy 2:20; 2 Corinthians 4:7
- 3 Luke 23:28–29; Ezekiel 5:10; Lamentations 4:10; Lamentations 2:20; Job 39:13–16
- 4 Psalm 22:15; Lamentations 2:11–12; Psalm 137:6; Deuteronomy 32:24; Matthew 7:9–11
- 5 Luke 16:19; Proverbs 31:21; Amos 6:3–7; Luke 15:16; 1 Timothy 5:6
- 6 Genesis 19:25; Isaiah 1:9–10; Luke 12:47; Luke 10:12; Matthew 24:21
- 7 Psalm 51:7; Song of Songs 5:10; Psalm 144:12; 1 Samuel 16:12; Numbers 6:2–21
- 8 Lamentations 5:10; Job 30:30; Psalm 102:3–5; Job 19:20; Psalm 119:83
- 9 Jeremiah 16:4; Ezekiel 24:23; Leviticus 26:39; Ezekiel 33:10
- 10 Isaiah 49:15; Lamentations 2:20; 2 Kings 6:26–29; Jeremiah 19:9; Lamentations 4:3
- 11 Jeremiah 7:20; Ezekiel 22:31; Lamentations 2:17; Jeremiah 17:27; Ezekiel 20:47–48
- 12 Psalm 48:4–6; Deuteronomy 29:24–28; 1 Kings 9:8–9; Jeremiah 21:13
- 13 Jeremiah 5:31; Jeremiah 6:13; Matthew 23:31; Jeremiah 26:8–9; Ezekiel 22:26–28
- 14 Isaiah 1:15; Jeremiah 2:34; Numbers 19:16; Deuteronomy 28:28–29; Isaiah 56:10
- 15 Leviticus 13:45–46
- 16 Isaiah 9:14–16; Lamentations 5:12; Deuteronomy 32:26; Jeremiah 24:9; Deuteronomy 28:64–65
- 17 Ezekiel 29:16; Isaiah 20:5; 2 Kings 24:7; Jeremiah 2:36; Lamentations 1:7
- 18 Amos 8:2; Psalm 140:11; Ezekiel 7:2–12; Lamentations 3:52; Jeremiah 16:16
- 19 Habakkuk 1:8; Jeremiah 4:13; Isaiah 5:26–28; Deuteronomy 28:49; Isaiah 30:16–17
- 20 2 Samuel 1:14; Genesis 2:7; Ezekiel 12:13; Jeremiah 39:5; 2 Samuel 19:21
- 21 Revelation 16:15; Amos 1:11; Job 1:1; Psalm 137:7; Ezekiel 25:12–14
- 22 Isaiah 40:2; Jeremiah 50:20; Psalm 137:7; Lamentations 4:6; Malachi 1:4
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
… salvation, thus: "God hath made known His salvation (salutare) in the sight of the heathen." For He is indeed Saviour, as being the Son and Word of God; but salutary, since [He is] Spirit; for he says: "The Spirit of our countenance, Christ the Lord." But salvation, as being flesh: for "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." …
Jeremiah, in prophesying of Christ, says, "The breath of our mouth, the Lord Christ, was taken in our sins," thus briefly showing both that Christ is our Lord and that He suffered for us.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
Lamenting then he says, The breath of our countenance, Christ the Lord was taken in our corruptions.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
He is called Spirit, as "God is a Spirit," and "the breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord." He is called holy, as the Father is holy, and the Son is holy, for to the creature holiness was brought in from without, but to the Spirit holiness is the fulfilment of nature, and it is for this reason …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 8 (1895)