Passage

Lamentations 4.7-9

Book: Lamentations · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

5. They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets: They that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills. 6. For the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the sin of Sodom, That was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands were laid upon her.

7. Her nobles were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk; They were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was as of sapphire. 8. Their 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. 9. They that are slain with the sword are better than they that are slain with hunger; For these pine away, stricken through, for want of the fruits of the field.

The hands of the pitiful women have boiled their own children; They were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people. 11. Jehovah hath accomplished his wrath, he hath poured out his fierce anger; And he hath kindled a fire in Zion, which hath devoured the foundations thereof. (Lamentations 4:5-11, ASV)

WEB

5. Those who fed delicately are desolate in the streets: Those who were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills. 6. For the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the sin of Sodom, That was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands were laid on her.

7. Her nobles were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk; They were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was as of sapphire. 8. Their appearance is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets: Their skin clings to their bones; it is withered, it has become like a stick. 9. Those who are killed with the sword are better than those who are killed with hunger; For these pine away, stricken through, for want of the fruits of the field.

The hands of the pitiful women have boiled their own children; They were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people. 11. Yahweh has accomplished his wrath, he has poured out his fierce anger; He has kindled a fire in Zion, which has devoured its foundations. (Lamentations 4:5-11, WEB)

KJV

5. They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets: they that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills. 6. For 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. ^{punishment of the iniquity: or, iniquity}

7. Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was of sapphire: 8. Their 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. ^{blacker: Heb. darker than blackness} 9. They 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. ^{pine: Heb. flow out}

The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people. 11. The 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. (Lamentations 4:5-11, KJV)

YLT

5. Those eating of dainties have been desolate in out-places, Those supported on scarlet have embraced dunghills. 6. And greater is the iniquity of the daughter of my people, Than the sin of Sodom, That was overturned as [in] a moment, And no hands were stayed on her.

7. Purer were her Nazarites than snow, Whiter than milk, ruddier of body than rubies, Of sapphire their form. 8. Darker than blackness hath been their visage, They have not been known in out-places, Cleaved hath their skin unto their bone, It hath withered, it hath been as wood. 9. Better have been the pierced of a sword Than the pierced of famine, For these flow away, pierced through, Without the increase of the field.

The hands of merciful women have boiled their own children, They have been for food to them, In the destruction of the daughter of my people. 11. Completed hath Jehovah His fury, He hath poured out the fierceness of His anger, And he kindleth a fire in Zion, And it devoureth her foundations. (Lamentations 4:5-11, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: the poet as narrator. The book is anonymous. Tradition, from the Septuagint's opening note and the Talmud (Baba Bathra 15a), assigns it to Jeremiah, who lamented in an earlier crisis (2 Chronicles 35:25); many modern commentators treat the five poems as the work of one or more unnamed poets writing in the same years
Audience: the surviving community of Judah, and Yahweh himself, to whom the poems repeatedly turn in protest and prayer
Location: Judah; the poems speak from within or beside ruined Jerusalem, and the book names no place of composition
Time period: the aftermath of Jerusalem's fall to Nebuchadnezzar's Babylonian army in 587/586 BC, when the temple was burned and the walls broken down (2 Kings 25:8-10; Jeremiah 52:12-14). Most scholars date the poems before the first return from exile in 538 BC
Literary context: chapter 4, a 22-verse acrostic of two-line stanzas contrasting Zion's former splendour with the horrors of the siege; a communal "we" takes over near the end (4:17-20).

Theological reading

"They that are slain with the sword are better than they that are slain with hunger; For these pine away, stricken through, for want of the fruits of the field." (Lamentations 4:9, ASV)

Before and after. Verse 7 pictures Jerusalem's nobles (KJV "Nazarites") in health and beauty; verse 8 shows the same people blackened, skin clinging to bone, unrecognised in the streets. The contrast measures what the siege did.

Worse than the sword. Verse 9 states that those killed in battle were better off than those who starved slowly "for want of the fruits of the field". The siege ended in famine (2 Kings 25:3), and the verse describes it from close at hand.

Why it matters. The passage refuses to romanticise judgment. The covenant curses (Leviticus 26:26; Deuteronomy 28:48) are shown in their human cost, and the book's grief over that cost is part of its theology.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word.

H1856 - daqar, daqar, Strong's H1856
H2896 - tov, tov, Strong's H2896

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Lexicon:

H1856 - daqar, via Lamentations 4.9

Notes

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Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.