As 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.
Parallel translations
- WEB Our eyes still fail, looking in vain for our help: In our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save.
- BSB All the while our eyes were failing as we looked in vain for help. We watched from our towers for a nation that could not save us.
- NKJV Still our eyes failed us, Watching vainly for our help; In our watching we watched For a nation that could not save us.
- NASB Yet our eyes failed, Looking for help was useless; At our observation point we have watched For a nation that could not save.
- NLT We looked in vain for our allies to come and save us, but we were looking to nations that could not help us.
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
They wore out their eyes watching in vain for help from a nation that could not save them.
Overview
Judah looked for rescue, likely to Egypt, but no foreign ally could deliver them. Their hope in human power proved empty. The verse exposes the folly of trusting in nations rather than God and turns the heart toward the only sure Deliverer, the Lord and His Christ (Ps. 146:3; Isa. 31:1).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Ezek 29:16And it shall be no more the confidence of the house of Israel, which bringeth their iniquity to remembrance, when they shall look after them: but they shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
- Isa 20:5And they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their glory.
- 2 Kgs 24:7And the king of Egypt came not again any more out of his land: for the king of Babylon had taken from the river of Egypt unto the river Euphrates all that pertained to the king of Egypt.
- Isa 31:1–3Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the LORD!
- Jer 2:18And now what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? or what hast thou to do in the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river?
- Jer 37:7–10Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Thus shall ye say to the king of Judah, that sent you unto me to enquire of me; Behold, Pharaoh’s army, which is come forth to help you, shall return to Egypt into their own land.
- Lam 1:19I 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.
- Isa 30:1–7Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin:
- Lam 1:7Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old, when her people fell into the hand of the enemy, and none did help her: the adversaries saw her, and did mock at her sabbaths.
- Jer 8:20The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.
- Ezek 29:6–7And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the LORD, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel.
- Jer 2:36Why gaddest thou about so much to change thy way? thou also shalt be ashamed of Egypt, as thou wast ashamed of Assyria.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 4:17 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.