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
10 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 the gold has become tarnished
on Lamentations 4:1-2
Lamentations 4 is an acrostic, twenty-two verses running the Hebrew alphabet from aleph to tav. It opens on a jeweler's grief: “The gems of the temple lie scattered on every street corner”. Then Zion's sons are named as the treasure debased, “once worth their weight in pure gold”.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church3 voices
Let us implore the tears of Jeremiah; let him consider our death, and lamenting say: "How is the gold become dim, the most fine color is changed, the stones of the sanctuary are scattered at the head of every street." For the gold has become dim, because the life of priests, once bright through the glory of virtues, is now shown to be reprobate through the basest actions. The most fine color is changed, because that habit of holiness has come to the disgrace of contempt through earthly and abject works. But the stones of the sanctuary were kept within, nor were they placed on the body of the high priest except when, entering the holy of holies, he appeared in the secret place of his Creator. We therefore, dearest brothers, we are the stones of the sanctuary who ought always to appear in the secret place of God; whom it is never necessary to be seen outside, that is, never to be seen in external affairs. But the stones of the sanctuary are scattered at the head of every street, because those who through their life and prayer ought always to have been within, through their reprobate life are occupied outside.
With what conscience can the overseer of souls avail himself among other people of his pastoral dignity, while engaged himself in the earthly cares that it was his duty to reprehend in others? And this indeed is what the Lord, in the wrath of just retribution, menaced through the prophet, saying, "And there shall be like people, like priest." For the priest is as the people when one who bears a spiritual office acts as do others who are still under judgment with regard to their carnal pursuits.
Here the misery of the siege is principally lamented, which is considered in two ways. In the first way the misery of the people is bewailed, in the second way the joy of those deriding is laid bare. As said in Verse 21: "Rejoice and …
The Reformation2 voices
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 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.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
) to be the gold of the temple, the fine gold with which it was overlaid ( 1 Kings vi. 22 ); when the temple was burned the gold of it was smoked and sullied, as if it had been of little value.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
How is the gold become dim!....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
How is the gold become dim - The prophet contrasts, in various affecting instances, the wretched circumstances of the Jewish nation, with the flourishing state of their affairs in former times. Here they are compared to gold, זהב zahab, native gold from the mine, which, contrary to its nature, is become dim, is tarnished; and even the fine, the sterling gold, כתם kethem, that which was stamped to make it current, is changed or adulterated, so as to be no longer passable. This might be applied to the temple, but particularly to the fallen priests and apostate prophets. The stones of the sanctuary - אבני קדש abney kodesh, the holy stones; the Jewish godly men, who were even then the living stones of which God built his Church.
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
Where this verse is studied
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About Lamentations
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, Lamentations; Gregory the Dialogist, Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 17; Gregory the Dialogist, Pastoral Rule, Part 2, Chapter 7; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Lamentations.