They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets: they that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.
Parallel translations
- WEB Those who fed delicately are desolate in the streets: Those who were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.
- BSB Those who once ate delicacies are destitute in the streets; those brought up in crimson huddle in ash heaps.
- NKJV Those who ate delicacies Are desolate in the streets; Those who were brought up in scarlet Embrace ash heaps.
- NASB Those who used to eat delicacies Are made to tremble in the streets; Those who were raised in crimson clothing Embrace garbage heaps.
- NLT The people who once ate the richest foods now beg in the streets for anything they can get. Those who once wore the finest clothes now search the garbage dumps for food.
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
Those once raised in luxury now lie destitute in the streets and cling to refuse heaps.
Overview
The wealthy who feasted on delicacies and wore scarlet are reduced to scavenging on dunghills. The reversal of fortune underscores how completely judgment has overturned Jerusalem's prosperity. It warns against trusting in riches and points to the lasting riches found only in Christ (Luke 16:25; Matt. 6:19-20).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Luke 16:19There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:
- Prov 31:21She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet.
- Amos 6:3–7Ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near;
- Luke 15:16And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.
- Isa 24:6–12Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.
- 1 Tim 5:6But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.
- 2 Sam 1:24Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you in scarlet, with other delights, who put on ornaments of gold upon your apparel.
- Luke 7:25But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they which are gorgeously apparelled, and live delicately, are in kings’ courts.
- Rev 18:7–9How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.
- Deut 28:54–56So that the man that is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children which he shall leave:
- Isa 3:16–26Moreover the LORD saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet:
- Jer 6:2–3I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman.
- Isa 32:9–14Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear my voice, ye careless daughters; give ear unto my speech.
- Jer 9:21–22For death is come up into our windows, and is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from without, and the young men from the streets.
- Job 24:8They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.
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 4:5 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.