Lamentations · Free Bible Version
Lamentations 4 Free Bible Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 How gold has tarnished! Even pure gold has lost its shine! Jewels from the Temple have been scattered on every street corner.
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 Look at how the precious people of Zion, worth their weight in gold, are now valued like cheap clay jars made by a 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 Even jackals nurse their young at their breasts, but the women of my people have become cruel, like an ostrich in the 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 The nursing babies are so thirsty that their tongues stick to the roof of their mouths. Little children beg for food, but nobody gives them anything.
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 Those who used to eat gourmet food now die starving in the streets. Those who dressed in fine clothes from their childhood now live in heaps of rubbish.
5 Those who ate delicacies are desolate in the streets. Those who were brought up in purple embrace dunghills.
6 Jerusalem's punishment is worse than sinful Sodom's, which was destroyed in a brief moment, without the help of human 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 Her leaders were purer than snow, whiter than milk; their bodies were a healthier red than coral, and they shone like lapis lazuli.
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 But now they look blacker than soot; no one recognizes them in the street. Their skin has shrunk to their bones and is as dry as wood.
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 Those killed by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger, who slowly waste away in agony because the fields produce no crops.
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 The hands of loving women have cooked their own children to eat during the destruction of Jerusalem.
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 The Lord has given full expression to his anger. He has poured out his fury. He has started a fire in Zion, and it has burned down her very 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 No king on earth—in fact nobody in all the world—thought that an enemy or attacker could enter 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 But this happened because of the sins of her prophets and the wickedness of her priests, who shed the blood of the innocent right there in the city.
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 They wandered like blind men through the streets, made unclean by this blood, so no one would touch their clothes.
14 They wander as blind men in the streets. They are polluted with blood, So that men can’t touch their garments.
15 “Go away! You're unclean!” people would shout at them, “Go away, go away! Don't touch us!” So they ran away and wandered from country to country, but the people there told them, “You can't stay here!”
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 The Lord himself has scattered them; he doesn't bother with them anymore. Nobody respects the priests, and nobody admires the leaders.
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 We wore out our eyes pointlessly looking for help the whole time; we watched from our towers for a nation to come that couldn't save us.
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 The enemy tracked our every movement so we couldn't walk through our streets. Our end approached. Our time was up because our end had 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 faster than eagles in the sky. They chased us across the mountains and ambushed us in the desert.
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 The king, the Lord's anointed, our country's “life-breath,” was trapped and captured by them. We had said about him, “Under his protection we will live among the nations.”
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 Celebrate and be happy while you can, people of Edom, you who live in the land of Uz, because this cup will be passed to you too. You will get drunk and strip yourself naked.
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 People of Zion, your punishment is coming to an end—he won't continue your exile for long. But he is going to punish your sins, people of Edom; he will reveal your 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)