Princes have been hung up by their hands; elders receive no respect.
Parallel translations
- WEB Princes were hanged up by their hand: The faces of elders were not honored.
- KJV Princes are hanged up by their hand: the faces of elders were not honoured.
- NKJV Princes were hung up by their hands, And elders were not respected.
- NASB Leaders were hung by their hands; Elders were not respected.
- NLT Our princes are being hanged by their thumbs, and our elders are treated with contempt.
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
Leaders were executed and the elders shown no respect by the conquerors. The whole social order of honor has been overturned.
Overview
Princes were hanged—likely impaled or hung in public shame—and the elders, who once commanded reverence, were dishonored. The reversal of every God-given structure of dignity marks the completeness of Judah's humiliation. Such overturning of honor points forward to the cross, where Christ bore shame for us so that He might raise the lowly and lift the humbled (Philippians 2:8-9).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Lam 4:16The presence of the LORD has scattered them; He regards them no more. The priests are shown no honor; the elders find no favor.
- Isa 47:6I was angry with My people; I profaned My heritage, and I placed them under your control. You showed them no mercy; even on the elderly you laid a most heavy yoke.
- Jer 39:6–7There at Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and he also killed all the nobles of Judah.
- Lam 2:20Look, O LORD, and consider: Whom have You ever treated like this? Should women eat their offspring, the infants they have nurtured? Should priests and prophets be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?
- Jer 52:10–11There at Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and he also killed all the officials of Judah.
- Lam 2:10The elders of the Daughter of Zion sit on the ground in silence. They have thrown dust on their heads and put on sackcloth. The young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground.
- Jer 52:25–27Of those still in the city, he took a court official who had been appointed over the men of war, as well as seven trusted royal advisers. He also took the scribe of the captain of the army, who had enlisted the people of the land, and sixty men who were found in the city.
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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 5:12 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.