Major Prophets · Chapter 4 of 5

Lamentations 4

The fourth lament contrasts former glory with present horror. The precious children of Zion, once like fine gold, are now treated as common clay, starving in the streets. The siege famine is described in unbearable detail, worse in the poet's eyes than the overthrow of Sodom. The disaster is traced to prophets and priests who shed innocent blood. The anointed king is captured, and the poem warns gloating Edom that her cup is coming too.

What happens in Lamentations 4

The poet mourns how the gold has grown dim, how the precious sons of Zion, once comparable to fine gold, are now esteemed as cheap earthen pots. The famine is depicted vividly: infants' tongues cleave to their mouths for thirst, children beg bread that no one breaks for them, those raised in luxury lie on dunghills, and mothers have boiled their own children to survive. The poet judges this punishment greater than Sodom's, which fell in a moment.

The princes once purer than snow are now blacker than coal. The cause is named: prophets and priests who shed the blood of the just and now wander as outcasts. The people watched in vain for a nation that could not save them. Even the anointed of the LORD, the breath of their nostrils, was taken in the enemy's pits. Finally the poem turns to Edom, telling her to rejoice for now, because the cup will pass to her as well.

Lamentations 4 in context

This shorter acrostic focuses on the horrors of the final siege of Jerusalem, especially its famine, and on the collapse of the city's leaders. The reference to the anointed of the LORD taken in enemy pits recalls the capture of King Zedekiah.

Edom is singled out for having gloated over and exploited Judah's fall. The chapter moves from vivid present suffering to the assurance that judgment will not spare the enemies who rejoiced in Jerusalem's ruin.

Main themes of Lamentations 4

Lamentations 4 (KJV)

1How is the gold become dim! how is the most fine gold changed! the stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of every street. 2The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter! 3Even the sea monsters draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones: the daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness. 4The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst: the young children ask bread, and no man breaketh it unto them. 5They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets: they that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills. 6For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands stayed on her. 7Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was of sapphire: 8Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets: their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick. 9They 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. 10The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people. 11The LORD hath accomplished his fury; he hath poured out his fierce anger, and hath kindled a fire in Zion, and it hath devoured the foundations thereof. 12The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the world, would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy should have entered into the gates of Jerusalem. 13For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her, 14They have wandered as blind men in the streets, they have polluted themselves with blood, so that men could not touch their garments. 15They cried unto them, Depart ye; it is unclean; depart, depart, touch not: when they fled away and wandered, they said among the heathen, They shall no more sojourn there. 16The anger of the LORD hath divided them; he will no more regard them: they respected not the persons of the priests, they favoured not the elders. 17As for us, our eyes as yet failed for our vain help: in our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save us. 18They hunt our steps, that we cannot go in our streets: our end is near, our days are fulfilled; for our end is come. 19Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the heaven: they pursued us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness. 20The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the LORD, was taken in their pits, of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the heathen. 21Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Uz; the cup also shall pass through unto thee: thou shalt be drunken, and shalt make thyself naked. 22The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion; he will no more carry thee away into captivity: he will visit thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom; he will discover thy sins.

Verses to carry from Lamentations 4

“How is the gold become dim! how is the most fine gold changed! the stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of every street.”Lamentations 4:1

“For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her,”Lamentations 4:13

“The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the LORD, was taken in their pits, of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the heathen.”Lamentations 4:20

Reflection

This chapter measures loss by remembering former glory, and it locates the deepest damage in corrupted leaders. Ask where compromise among those who guide has dimmed something once golden in your own community or soul.

Then look to Christ, the Anointed who was taken for our sake, under whose shadow, unlike any earthly king, we truly and forever live.

A prayer from Lamentations 4