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Lamentations 4:5

in Lamentations 4

Those who once ate delicacies are destitute in the streets; those brought up in crimson huddle in ash heaps.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets: They that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.

KJV

They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets: they that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.

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This verse in Lamentations 4

Commentary

3 notes on this verse
They that were brought up in scarlet - literally, “those that were carried upon scarlet;” young children in arms and of the highest birth now lie on the dirt-heaps of the city.

This site's exposition

Even the sea monsters draw out the breast

on Lamentations 4:3-6

The sea monsters of verse 3, read by many of the older writers as jackals, nurse their young while the daughter of my people turns cruel as the ostriches of the wilderness, a bird Job 39 already named for abandoning her own eggs. Thirst cracks the tongue of nursing infants and starving children beg bread that no one breaks for them, while those bred to delicacy now embrace dunghills in the street. Verse 6 states the comparison the scene has been building toward: the punishment of the daughter of my people is greater than the sin of Sodom, which fell in a moment with no hand to prolong it, siege famine judged the slower and heavier judgment.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

They were brought up upon scarlet (so the word is); their foot-cloths, and the carpets they walked on, were scarlet, yet these, being stripped of all by the war, are desolate in the streets, have not a house to put their head in, nor a bed to lie on, nor clothes to cover them, nor fire to warm them.

The words behind it

9 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • הָאֹֽכְלִים֙the [ones] eating

    haokhelimH398 →810 times

  • לְמַ֣עֲדַנִּ֔ים<to> delicacies

    lemaadanimH4574 →

  • נָשַׁ֖מּוּthey are desolate

    nashamuH8074 →86 times

  • בַּחוּצ֑וֹתin the streets

    bachutzotH2351 →164 times

  • הָאֱמֻנִים֙the [ones] brought up

    haemunimH539 →

  • עֲלֵ֣יon

    ʾaleiH5921 →5755 times

  • תוֹלָ֔עcrimson

    tola'H8438 →

  • חִבְּק֖וּthey have embraced

    chibekuH2263 →

  • אַשְׁפַּתּֽוֹת׃ סash heaps

    ʾashpatotH830 →

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

18 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Luke 16:19Now there was a rich man dressed in purple and fine linen, who lived each day in joyous splendor.5 worksLuke 15:16He longed to fill his belly with the pods the pigs were eating, but no one would give him a thing.4 worksAmos 6:3–7You dismiss the day of calamity and bring near a reign of violence.4 worksProverbs 31:21When it snows, she has no fear for her household, for they are all clothed in scarlet.4 worksJob 24:8Drenched by mountain rains, they huddle against the rocks for want of shelter.4 worksIsaiah 24:6–12Therefore a curse has consumed the earth, and its inhabitants must bear the guilt; the earth’s dwellers have been burned, and only a few survive.3 works
The other 12 cross-references, with their words ▾
Luke 7:25Otherwise, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? Look, those who wear elegant clothing and live in luxury are found in palaces.3 works1 Timothy 5:6But she who lives for pleasure is dead even while she is still alive.3 worksDeuteronomy 28:54–56The most gentle and refined man among you will begrudge his brother, the wife he embraces, and the rest of his children who have survived,3 works2 Samuel 1:24O daughters of Israel, weep for Saul, who clothed you in scarlet and luxury, who decked your garments with ornaments of gold.3 worksRevelation 18:7–9As much as she has glorified herself and lived in luxury, give her the same measure of torment and grief. In her heart she says, ‘I sit as queen; I am not a widow and will never see grief.’3 worksRevelation 18:3All the nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her immorality. The kings of the earth were immoral with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown wealthy from the extravagance of her luxury.”3 worksIsaiah 47:1“Go down and sit in the dust, O Virgin Daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, O Daughter of Chaldea! For you will no longer be called tender or delicate.3 worksPsalms 44:25For our soul has sunk to the dust; our bodies cling to the earth.3 worksJeremiah 6:2–3Though she is beautiful and delicate, I will destroy the Daughter of Zion.2 worksIsaiah 32:9–14Stand up, you complacent women; listen to me. Give ear to my word, you overconfident daughters.2 worksJeremiah 9:21–22For death has climbed in through our windows; it has entered our fortresses to cut off the children from the streets, the young men from the town squares.2 worksIsaiah 3:16–26The LORD also says: “Because the daughters of Zion are haughty—walking with heads held high and wanton eyes, prancing and skipping as they go, jingling the bracelets on their ankles—2 works

The walk

8 stops

Each 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

    Luke 16:19

    Now there was a rich man dressed in purple and fine linen, who lived each day in joyous splendor.

    it leads to

    • Ezekiel 16:49

      Now this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed, and complacent; they did not help the poor and needy.

    • Luke 18:24–25

      Seeing the man’s sadness, Jesus said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!

    • Amos 6:4–6

      You lie on beds inlaid with ivory, and lounge upon your couches. You dine on lambs from the flock and calves from the stall.

    • Ezekiel 27:7

      Of embroidered fine linen from Egypt they made your sail, which served as your banner. Of blue and purple from the coasts of Elishah they made your awning.

  • Through

    Luke 15:16

    He longed to fill his belly with the pods the pigs were eating, but no one would give him a thing.

    it leads to

    • Romans 6:19–21

      I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to escalating wickedness, so now…

    • Hosea 12:1

      Ephraim chases the wind and pursues the east wind all day long; he multiplies lies and violence; he makes a covenant with Assyria and sends olive oil to Egypt.

  • Through

    Proverbs 31:21

    When it snows, she has no fear for her household, for they are all clothed in scarlet.

    it leads to

    • Genesis 45:22

      He gave new garments to each of them, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred shekels of silver and five sets of clothes.

    • 2 Samuel 1:24

      O daughters of Israel, weep for Saul, who clothed you in scarlet and luxury, who decked your garments with ornaments of gold.

About Lamentations

People Mourn over the Destruction of Jerusalem — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
People Mourn over the Destruction of Jerusalem — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Lamentations: the study guide →Read Lamentations 4 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Lamentations 4 →