The presence of the LORD has scattered them; He regards them no more. The priests are shown no honor; the elders find no favor.
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh’s anger has scattered them; he will no more regard them: They didn’t respect the persons of the priests, they didn’t favor the elders.
- KJV 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.
- NKJV The face of the Lord scattered them; He no longer regards them. The people do not respect the priests Nor show favor to the elders.
- NASB The presence of the Lord has scattered them, He will not continue to look at them; They did not honor the priests, They did not favor the elders.
- NLT The Lord himself has scattered them, and he no longer helps them. People show no respect for the priests and no longer honor the leaders.
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
The Lord Himself has scattered them and no longer regards them, because they dishonored priests and elders.
Overview
God's anger has dispersed the people, and He withdraws His favor from those who showed no respect for His appointed leaders. The judgment falls in part for despising the offices God established. This reminds us that contempt for God's order is serious, and it magnifies the grace by which God still regards sinners in Christ (Ps. 51:11; Eph. 2:4-5).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Lam 5:12Princes have been hung up by their hands; elders receive no respect.
- Isa 9:14–16So the LORD will cut off Israel’s head and tail, both palm branch and reed in a single day.
- Deut 32:26I would have said that I would cut them to pieces and blot out their memory from mankind,
- Jer 24:9I will make them a horror and an offense to all the kingdoms of the earth, a disgrace and an object of scorn, ridicule, and cursing wherever I have banished them.
- Deut 28:25The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will march out against them in one direction but flee from them in seven. You will be an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
- Heb 8:9It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they did not abide by My covenant, and I disregarded them, declares the Lord.
- Deut 28:64–65Then the LORD will scatter you among all the nations, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known.
- Jer 15:4I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what Manasseh son of Hezekiah king of Judah did in Jerusalem.
- Lev 26:33–39But I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out a sword after you as your land becomes desolate and your cities are laid waste.
- 2 Chr 36:17So He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who put their young men to the sword in the sanctuary, sparing neither young men nor young women, neither elderly nor infirm. God gave them all into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar,
- Ps 106:44Nevertheless He heard their cry; He took note of their distress.
- 2 Kgs 25:18–21The captain of the guard also took away Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest of second rank, and the three doorkeepers.
- Gen 49:7Cursed be their anger, for it is strong, and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will disperse them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 4:16 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.