The elders have ceased gathering at the gate, And the young men from their music.
Parallel translations
- WEB The elders have ceased from the gate, The young men from their music.
- KJV The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their musick.
- BSB The elders have left the city gate; the young men have stopped their music.
- NASB Elders are absent from the gate, Young men from their music.
- NLT The elders no longer sit in the city gates; the young men no longer dance and sing.
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
The elders no longer gather at the city gate and the young men no longer make music. Both wise governance and ordinary joy have ceased.
Overview
The gate was the center of justice and counsel where elders presided, and music was the sound of communal gladness; both have fallen silent. Their absence signals the collapse of public life and celebration alike. The verse shows how sin's consequences silence both order and joy, while the gospel promises a restored city where neither justice nor song will ever fail (Isaiah 35:10).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Jer 7:34Then I will cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; for the land shall become a waste.”
- Ezek 26:13I will cause the noise of your songs to cease; and the sound of your harps shall be no more heard.
- Isa 24:7–11The new wine mourns. The vine languishes. All the merry-hearted sigh.
- Rev 18:22The voice of harpists, minstrels, flute players, and trumpeters will be heard no more at all in you. No craftsman, of whatever craft, will be found any more at all in you. The sound of a mill will be heard no more at all in you.
- Deut 16:18You shall make judges and officers in all your gates, which Yahweh your God gives you, according to your tribes; and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment.
- Jer 16:9For Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says: “Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.
- Job 30:1“But now those who are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to put with my sheep dogs.
- Jer 25:10Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp.
- Job 30:31Therefore my harp has turned to mourning, and my pipe into the voice of those who weep.
- Job 29:7–17when I went out to the city gate, when I prepared my seat in the street.
- Lam 2:10The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground, they keep silence; They have cast up dust on their heads; they have clothed themselves with sackcloth: The virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.
- Lam 1:19“I called for my lovers, but they deceived me. My priests and my elders gave up the spirit in the city, while they sought food for themselves to refresh their souls.
- Lam 1:4The ways of Zion mourn, because no one come to the solemn assembly; all her gates are desolate, her priests sigh: her virgins are afflicted, and she herself is in bitterness.
- Isa 3:2–3the mighty man, the man of war, the judge, the prophet, the diviner, the elder,
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 5:14 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.