Lamentations 4:1
in Lamentations 4How the gold has become tarnished, the pure gold has become dull! The gems of the temple lie scattered on every street corner.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
How is the gold become dim! how is the most pure gold changed! The stones of the sanctuary are poured out at the head of every street.
KJV
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.
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This verse in Lamentations 4
Commentary
3 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The stones of the sanctuary - Or, the hallowed stones, literally stones of holiness, a metaphor for the people themselves. The actual stones of the temple would not be thus widely thrown about as to be seen everywhere, but the prophet has already affirmed this of the young children dying of hunger (compare Lam 2:19).
This site's exposition
How is the gold become dim
on Lamentations 4:1-2
Lamentations 4 is the third of the book's acrostics, twenty-two verses running the Hebrew alphabet aleph through tav, one line for each letter as chapters 1 and 2 did. The poem opens on a jeweler's grief: the gold has lost its shine and the sanctuary's own stones lie scattered at the top of every street, the temple's ruin measured in stone. The reversal that follows names Zion's sons themselves as the treasure debased, once comparable to fine gold and now esteemed no higher than earthen pitchers, common clay work from a potter's hand.
The record, by era
The Reformation1 voice
He begins by expressing his astonishment, How obscured is the gold! and the precious gold! for ktm, catam, is properly the best gold, though the word good,htvv ethub, is added to it. We may hence conclude that it generally denotes gold only. He mentions, then, gold twice, but they are two different words in Hebrew, zhv, zaeb, and ktm catam.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
How can it be that the golden glow has paled. This elegy was pronounced over Yoshiyahu, 1 Who was killed in a battle with Pharaoh Necho. as it is stated in Divrei Hayomim, “Behold it is written in the Book of Lamentations,” 2 II Divrei Hayomim:25.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
12 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אֵיכָה֙ | ʾeikhah | how! | H349 → | 82 times |
| יוּעַ֣ם | yuam | it is dimmed | H6004 → | |
| זָהָ֔ב | zahav | gold | H2091 → | |
| יִשְׁנֶ֖א | yishne' | it is changed | H8132 → | |
| הַכֶּ֣תֶם | haketem | the gold | H3800 → | |
| הַטּ֑וֹב | hatov | <the> fine | H2896 → | 538 times |
| תִּשְׁתַּפֵּ֙כְנָה֙ | tishtapekhenah | they lie scattered | H8210 → | 114 times |
| אַבְנֵי־ | ʾavnei- | stones of | H68 → | |
| קֹ֔דֶשׁ | kodesh | holiness | H6944 → | |
| בְּרֹ֖אשׁ | berosh | at [the] head of | H7218 → | 599 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| חוּצֽוֹת׃ ס | chutzot | [the] streets | H2351 → | 164 times |
אֵיכָה֙how!
ʾeikhahH349 →82 times
יוּעַ֣םit is dimmed
yuamH6004 →
זָהָ֔בgold
zahavH2091 →
יִשְׁנֶ֖אit is changed
yishne'H8132 →
הַכֶּ֣תֶםthe gold
haketemH3800 →
הַטּ֑וֹב<the> fine
hatovH2896 →538 times
תִּשְׁתַּפֵּ֙כְנָה֙they lie scattered
tishtapekhenahH8210 →114 times
אַבְנֵי־stones of
ʾavnei-H68 →
קֹ֔דֶשׁholiness
kodeshH6944 →
בְּרֹ֖אשׁat [the] head of
beroshH7218 →599 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
חוּצֽוֹת׃ ס[the] streets
chutzotH2351 →164 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Lamentations 2:19Arise, cry out in the night from the first watch of the night. Pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord. Lift up your hands to Him for the lives…
it leads to
- Psalms 62:8
Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts before Him. God is our refuge. Selah
- Isaiah 26:9
My soul longs for You in the night; indeed, my spirit seeks You at dawn. For when Your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.
- Psalms 119:147–148
I rise before dawn and cry for help; in Your word I have put my hope.
- Psalms 142:2
I pour out my complaint before Him; I reveal my trouble to Him.
- Mark 1:35
Early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up and slipped out to a solitary place to pray.
- Psalms 62:8
Through
Matthew 24:2“Do you see all these things?” He replied. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
it leads to
- Luke 19:44
They will level you to the ground—you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.”
- Jeremiah 26:18
“Micah the Moreshite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah and told all the people of Judah that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Zion will be plowed like a…
- Micah 3:12
Therefore, because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, and the temple mount a wooded ridge.
- Luke 19:44
About Lamentations
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, Lamentations; John Calvin, Commentaries and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.