Their priests were slaughtered, and their widows could not mourn their deaths.
Parallel translations
- WEB Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows couldn’t weep.
- KJV Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation.
- BSB His priests fell by the sword, but their widows could not lament.
- NKJV Their priests fell by the sword, And their widows made no lamentation.
- NASB His priests fell by the sword, And His widows could not weep.
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 priests fell by the sword and their widows could not even mourn. Calamity overwhelmed even grief itself.
Overview
The deaths of the priests recall the fall of Eli's sons (1 Samuel 4), and the widows 'couldn't weep,' overcome by catastrophe. The judgment reached the very leaders of worship. This bleak scene sets the stage for God's surprising mercy as He rises to act for His people's good.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- 1 Sam 4:17He who brought the news answered, “Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has been also a great slaughter among the people. Your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and God’s ark has been captured.”
- Job 27:15Those who remain of him shall be buried in death. His widows shall make no lamentation.
- 1 Sam 22:18–19The king said to Doeg, “Turn and attack the priests!” Doeg the Edomite turned, and he attacked the priests, and he killed on that day eighty-five people who wore a linen ephod.
- Ezek 24:23Your tires shall be on your heads, and your shoes on your feet: you shall not mourn nor weep; but you shall pine away in your iniquities, and moan one toward another.
- 1 Sam 4:11God’s ark was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain.
- 1 Sam 2:33–34The man of yours, whom I don’t cut off from my altar, will consume your eyes and grieve your heart; and all the increase of your house will die in the flower of their age.
- 1 Sam 4:19–20His daughter-in-law, Phinehas’ wife, was with child, near to be delivered. When she heard the news that God’s ark was taken, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and gave birth; for her pains came on her.
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 78:64 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.