“I called for my lovers, but they deceived me. My priests and my elders gave up the spirit in the city, while they sought food for themselves to refresh their souls.
Parallel translations
- KJV I called for my lovers, but they deceived me: my priests and mine elders gave up the ghost in the city, while they sought their meat to relieve their souls.
- BSB I called out to my lovers, but they have betrayed me. My priests and elders perished in the city while they searched for food to keep themselves alive.
- NKJV “I called for my lovers, But they deceived me; My priests and my elders Breathed their last in the city, While they sought food To restore their life.
- NASB “I called to my lovers, but they deserted me; My priests and my elders perished in the city While they sought food to restore their strength themselves.
- NLT “I begged my allies for help, but they betrayed me. My priests and leaders starved to death in the city, even as they searched for food to save their lives.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Her allies betrayed her and her priests and elders died searching for food. It shows the total collapse of her trusted supports and leaders.
Overview
The 'lovers' (foreign allies) proved deceitful, and even the religious leaders perished from famine while seeking bread. Every human source of help has failed her. The failure of false comforters and faithless shepherds heightens the contrast with Christ, the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep (John 10:11).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Lam 2:20“Look, Yahweh, and see to whom you have done thus! Shall the women eat their offspring, the children that are dandled in the hands? Shall the priest and the prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?
- Lam 1:11All her people sigh, they seek bread; they have given their pleasant things for food to refresh the soul: “Look, Yahweh, and see; for I have become abject.”
- Lam 1:2She weeps bitterly in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks; among all her lovers she has no one to comfort her: All her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they have become her enemies.
- Job 19:13–19“He has put my brothers far from me. My acquaintances are wholly estranged from me.
- Jer 37:7–9“Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, ‘You shall tell the king of Judah, who sent you to me to inquire of me: “Behold, Pharaoh’s army, which has come out to help you, shall return to Egypt into their own land.
- Jer 30:14All your lovers have forgotten you. They don’t seek you: for I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the greatness of your iniquity, because your sins were increased.
- Lam 5:12Princes were hanged up by their hand: The faces of elders were not honored.
- Jer 2:28“But where are your gods that you have made for yourselves? Let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble: for you have as many gods as you have towns, O Judah.
- Lam 4:17Our eyes still fail, looking in vain for our help: In our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save.
- Jer 27:13–15Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as Yahweh has spoken concerning the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?
- Jer 14:15–18Therefore Yahweh says concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name, and I didn’t send them, yet they say, ‘Sword and famine will not be in this land.’ Those prophets will be consumed by sword and famine.
- Jer 23:11–15for both prophet and priest are profane; yes, in my house I have found their wickedness,” says Yahweh.
- Lam 4:7–9Her nobles were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk; They were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was as of sapphire.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The weeping over a ruined city and the steadfast mercies that are new every morning point to the man of sorrows who wept over Jerusalem and whose mercy rises new from the grave.
How Lamentations 1:19 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.