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Lamentations 4:11

in Lamentations 4

The LORD has exhausted His wrath; He has poured out His fierce anger; He has kindled a fire in Zion, and it has consumed her foundations.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

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.

KJV

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.

This verse in Lamentations 4

Commentary

4 notes on this verse

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

He has poured out the full vials of his fierce anger, poured them out to the bottom, even the dregs of them. He has kindled a fire in Zion, which has not only consumed the houses, and levelled them with the ground, but, beyond what other fires do, has devoured the foundations thereof, as if they were to be no more built upon. It is an amazing destruction,

This site's exposition

The LORD has exhausted His wrath

on Lamentations 4:11-12

Verse 11 names the source of the fire: “He has kindled a fire in Zion, and it has consumed her foundations”. So the temple's burning is the LORD's own act. Verse 12 records the disbelief of the nations.

The record, by era

The Medieval Church1 voice

A commentator

Thomas Aquinas

Commentary on Lamentations · Written before 1274.

proposed

Here is bewailed the captivity, and destruction of the city, (Jerusalem). So, first is considered the destruction itself, second, the wonder from this fact. As said in Verse 12: "The kings of the earth did not believe, or any of the inhabitants of the world, …

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

The Lord hath accomplished his fury,....

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

Adonoy spent His wrath. Which burned in Him for many years. 17 God’s fury is compared to a ‘consuming fire’ as in Eichah:3 above; also see Devorim:24. He now spent it when He avenged Himself upon them.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Lamentations 4:11:1, via Sefaria, The Metsudah Five Megillot, Lakewood, N.J., 2001

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 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.

  • כִּלָּ֤הhe has completed

    kilahH3615 →208 times

  • יְהוָה֙Yahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • חֲמָת֔וֹrage his

    chamatoH2534 →

  • שָׁפַ֖ךְhe has poured out

    shafakhH8210 →114 times

  • חֲר֣וֹן[the] burning of

    charonH2740 →

  • אַפּ֑וֹanger his

    ʾapoH639 →276 times

  • וַיַּצֶּת־and he has kindled

    vaiyatzet-H3341 →

  • אֵ֣שׁa fire

    ʾeshH784 →378 times

  • בְּצִיּ֔וֹןin Zion

    betziyonH6726 →154 times

  • וַתֹּ֖אכַלand it has consumed

    vatokhalH398 →810 times

  • יְסוֹדֹתֶֽיהָ׃ סfoundations its

    yesodoteihaH3247 →

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

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

    Ezekiel 22:31

    So I have poured out My indignation upon them and consumed them with the fire of My fury. I have brought their ways down upon their own heads, declares the Lord GOD.”

    it leads to

    • Ezekiel 7:8–9

      Very soon I will pour out My wrath upon you and vent My anger against you; I will judge you according to your ways and repay you for all your abominations.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

  • Through

    Jeremiah 17:27

    But if you do not listen to Me to keep the Sabbath day holy by not carrying a load while entering the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle an…

    it leads to

    • 2 Kings 25:9

      He burned down the house of the LORD, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem—every significant building.

    • Jeremiah 7:20

      Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, My anger and My fury will be poured out on this place, on man and beast, on the trees of the field and the produce…

    • Jeremiah 21:14

      I will punish you as your deeds deserve, declares the LORD. I will kindle a fire in your forest that will consume everything around you.’”

    • Amos 2:4–5

      This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Judah, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they reject the Law of the LORD and fail to keep His statutes; they…

    • Ezekiel 22:8

      You have despised My holy things and profaned My Sabbaths.

  • Through

    Jeremiah 7:20

    Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, My anger and My fury will be poured out on this place, on man and beast, on the trees of the field and the produce…

    it leads to

    • Jeremiah 42:18

      For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘Just as My anger and wrath were poured out on the residents of Jerusalem, so will My wrath be poured out…

  • Through

    Lamentations 2:17

    The LORD has done what He planned; He has accomplished His decree, which He ordained in days of old; He has overthrown you without pity. He has let the enemy gloat over you and…

    it leads to

    • Ezekiel 5:11

      Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable idols and abominations, I Myself will withdraw My favor; I will not look upon…

Where this verse is studied

About Lamentations

People Mourn over the Destruction of Jerusalem, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
People Mourn over the Destruction of Jerusalem, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.

This page draws on John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Lamentations.