Lamentations 4:9
in Lamentations 4Those slain by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger, who waste away, pierced with pain because the fields lack produce.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
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.
KJV
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.
⋯
This verse in Lamentations 4
Commentary
3 notes on this verseThey that be slain with the sword are better than they that be slain with hunger,.... Not that they are better with respect to their state after death, but with respect to their manner of dying.
This site's exposition
They that be slain with the sword are better than they that be slain with hunger
on Lamentations 4:9-10
Verse 9 weighs two deaths and finds the quicker one lighter: those slain by the sword are better off than those slain by hunger, who pine away, stricken through for want of the field's fruit, a lingering judgment worse than a sudden one. Verse 10 names the famine's last horror without softening it, the hands of pitiful women who sodden their own children for meat, the very curse Moses had warned would fall on a besieged and covenant-breaking city (Deut 28:56-57, Lev 26:29). The commentators read the verse as that warning arrived at its object rather than explain it away.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
They were stricken through, for want of the fruits of the field; those who were starved were as sure to die as if they had been stabbed and stricken through; only their case was much more miserable. Those who are slain with the sword are soon put out of their pain; in a moment they go down to the grave, Job xxi.
The words behind it
11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| טוֹבִ֤ים | tovim | good | H2896 → | 538 times |
| הָיוּ֙ | hayu | they are | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| חַלְלֵי־ | chalei- | [those] slain of | H2491 → | 94 times |
| חֶ֔רֶב | cherev | a sword | H2719 → | 413 times |
| מֵֽחַלְלֵ֖י | mechalei | more than [those] slain of | H2491 → | 94 times |
| רָעָ֑ב | raav | hunger | H7458 → | 101 times |
| שֶׁ֣הֵ֤ם | shehem | who they | H1992 → | |
| יָז֙וּבוּ֙ | yazuvu | they flow away | H2100 → | |
| מְדֻקָּרִ֔ים | medukarim | pierced through | H1856 → | |
| מִתְּנוּבֹ֖ת | mitenuvot | from [the] produce<s> of | H8570 → | |
| שָׂדָֽי׃ ס | sadai | [the] field | H7704 → |
טוֹבִ֤יםgood
tovimH2896 →538 times
הָיוּ֙they are
hayuH1961 →3559 times
חַלְלֵי־[those] slain of
chalei-H2491 →94 times
חֶ֔רֶבa sword
cherevH2719 →413 times
מֵֽחַלְלֵ֖יmore than [those] slain of
mechaleiH2491 →94 times
רָעָ֑בhunger
raavH7458 →101 times
שֶׁ֣הֵ֤םwho they
shehemH1992 →
יָז֙וּבוּ֙they flow away
yazuvuH2100 →
מְדֻקָּרִ֔יםpierced through
medukarimH1856 →
מִתְּנוּבֹ֖תfrom [the] produce<s> of
mitenuvotH8570 →
שָׂדָֽי׃ ס[the] field
sadaiH7704 →
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
Leviticus 26:39Those of you who survive in the lands of your enemies will waste away in their iniquity and will decay in the sins of their fathers.
it leads to
- Ezekiel 4:17
So they will lack food and water; they will be appalled at the sight of one another wasting away in their iniquity.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Ezekiel 33:10
Now as for you, son of man, tell the house of Israel that this is what they have said: ‘Our transgressions and our sins are heavy upon us, and we are wasting away because…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Ezekiel 24:23
Your turbans will remain on your heads and your sandals on your feet. You will not mourn or weep, but you will waste away because of your sins, and you will groan among yourselves.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Ezekiel 4:17
Through
Jeremiah 16:4“They will die from deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried, but will lie like dung on the ground. They will be finished off by sword and famine, and their corpses will…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 25:33
Those slain by the LORD on that day will be spread from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be mourned, gathered, or buried. They will be like dung lying…
- Psalms 83:10
who perished at Endor and became like dung on the ground.
- Jeremiah 9:22
Declare that this is what the LORD says: “The corpses of men will fall like dung upon the open field, like newly cut grain behind the reaper, with no one to gather it.”
- Zephaniah 1:17
I will bring such distress on mankind that they will walk like the blind, because they have sinned against the LORD. Their blood will be poured out like dust and their flesh like dung.
- Jeremiah 25:33
Through
Ezekiel 33:10Now as for you, son of man, tell the house of Israel that this is what they have said: ‘Our transgressions and our sins are heavy upon us, and we are wasting away because…
it leads to
- Leviticus 26:39
Those of you who survive in the lands of your enemies will waste away in their iniquity and will decay in the sins of their fathers.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Leviticus 26:39
About Lamentations
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Carl Friedrich Keil, Lamentations; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.