Those slain by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger, who waste away, pierced with pain because the fields lack produce.
Parallel translations
- WEB Those who are killed with the sword are better than those who are killed with hunger; For these pine away, stricken through, for want of the fruits of the field.
- KJV They that be slain with the sword are better than they that be slain with hunger: for these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the field.
- NKJV Those slain by the sword are better off Than those who die of hunger; For these pine away, Stricken for lack of the fruits of the field.
- NASB Better off are those killed by the sword Than those killed by hunger; For they waste away, stricken By the lack of the produce of the field.
- NLT Those killed by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger. Starving, they waste away for lack of food from the fields.
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 slain by the sword are better off than those who slowly waste away from hunger.
Overview
The poet judges a quick death in battle preferable to the lingering torment of starvation. The prolonged agony of famine is portrayed as a fate worse than the sword. This grim assessment conveys the depth of suffering under judgment and intensifies the cry for deliverance that finds its answer in the gospel (Lam. 4:6).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Jer 16:4“They will die from deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried, but will lie like dung on the ground. They will be finished off by sword and famine, and their corpses will become food for the birds of the air and beasts of the earth.”
- Ezek 24:23Your turbans will remain on your heads and your sandals on your feet. You will not mourn or weep, but you will waste away because of your sins, and you will groan among yourselves.
- Lev 26:39Those of you who survive in the lands of your enemies will waste away in their iniquity and will decay in the sins of their fathers.
- Ezek 33:10Now as for you, son of man, tell the house of Israel that this is what they have said: ‘Our transgressions and our sins are heavy upon us, and we are wasting away because of them! How can we live?’
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 4:9 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.