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Lamentations 4

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📖 Lamentations introduction

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1How dark the gold has become, How the pure gold has changed! The sacred stones are spilled out At the corner of every street. ✦ 2The precious sons of Zion, Weighed against pure gold, How they are regarded as earthenware jars, The work of a potter’s hands! ✦ 3Even jackals offer the breast, They nurse their young; But the daughter of my people has proved herself cruel, Like ostriches in the wilderness. ✦ 4The tongue of the infant clings To the roof of its mouth because of thirst; The children ask for bread, But no one breaks it for them. ✦ 5Those who used to eat delicacies Are made to tremble in the streets; Those who were raised in crimson clothing Embrace garbage heaps. ✦ 6For the wrongdoing of the daughter of my people Is greater than the sin of Sodom, Which was overthrown as in a moment, And no hands were turned toward her. ✦ 7Her consecrated ones were purer than snow, They shined more than milk; They were more ruddy in body than pearls of coral, Their form was like lapis lazuli. ✦ 8Their appearance is darker than soot, They are not recognized in the streets; Their skin is shriveled on their bones, It is dry, it has become like wood. ✦ 9Better 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. ✦ 10The hands of compassionate women Boiled their own children; They became food for them Due to the destruction of the daughter of my people. ✦ 11The Lord has expended His wrath, He has poured out His fierce anger; And He has kindled a fire in Zion, And it has consumed its foundations. ✦ 12The kings of the earth did not believe, Nor did any of the inhabitants of the world, That the adversary and the enemy Would enter the gates of Jerusalem. ✦ 13Because of the sins of her prophets And the wrongdoings of her priests, Who have shed in her midst The blood of the righteous, ✦ 14They wandered, blind, in the streets; They were defiled with blood, Such that no one could touch their garments. ✦ 15“Keep away! Unclean!” they cried out of themselves. “Keep away, keep away, do not touch!” For they distanced themselves as well as wandered; People among the nations said, “They shall not continue to reside with us.” ✦ 16The 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. ✦ 17Yet our eyes failed, Looking for help was useless; At our observation point we have watched For a nation that could not save. ✦ 18They hunted our steps So that we could not walk in our streets; Our end drew near, Our days were finished For our end had come. ✦ 19Our pursuers were swifter Than the eagles of the sky; They chased us on the mountains, They waited in ambush for us in the wilderness. ✦ 20The breath of our nostrils, the Lord’s anointed, Was captured in their pits, Of whom we had said, “In his shadow We shall live among the nations.” ✦ 21Rejoice and be joyful, daughter of Edom, Who lives in the land of Uz; But the cup will pass to you as well, You will become drunk and expose yourself. ✦ 22The punishment of your wrongdoing has been completed, daughter of Zion; He will no longer exile you. But He will punish your wrongdoing, daughter of Edom; He will expose your sins! ✦

Tap any verse for its study page. Underlined terms mark a concept, person, or place; ✦ marks verses with cross-references.

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

Where this chapter connects

Lam 2 ·9Lam 4 ·7Deut 28 ·7Jer 2 ·4Lev 26 ·4Jer 19 ·4Isa 1 ·3Matt 24 ·3

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 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.

Resources, by level

Lay

  • ★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical

    A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.

Pastoral

  • SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical

    Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

Commentaries & study tools

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