Lamentations 4:12
in Lamentations 4The kings of the earth did not believe, nor any people of the world, that an enemy or a foe could enter the gates of Jerusalem.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The kings of the earth believed not, neither all the inhabitants of the world, That the adversary and the enemy would enter into the gates of Jerusalem.
KJV
The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the world, would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy should have entered into the gates of Jerusalem.
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This verse in Lamentations 4
Commentary
8 notes on this verseA commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Jerusalem was so fortified that all thought it impregnable. It therefore could only have been the hand of God, not the force of man, which overthrew it.
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.
This site's exposition
the gates of Jerusalem
Albert Barnes notes that Uzziah and later kings had made Jerusalem so strong that the enemy took a year and a half (2 Kings 25:1-4). The kings of the earth thought the gates would hold. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown conclude that only the LORD could have opened them.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Here is shown the fact (of the destruction) to be awesome. Since, first it was incredible. As said: "The kings of the earth did not believe or any of the inhabitants of the world," That is, since there had been powerful kings over this city, …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Cause of Jerusalem's Sorrows. 13 For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her, 14 They have wandered as blind men in the streets, they have polluted themselves with blood, so that men could not touch their garments.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:94%@v12-14
The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the world,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
The kings of the earth - Jerusalem was so well fortified, both by nature and art, that it appeared as a miracle that it should be taken at all.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Though Jerusalem had been several times captured 1Ki 14:26; 2Ki 14:13; 2Ki 23:33-35, yet it had been so strongly fortified by Uzziah and his successors as to have been made virtually impregnable. Its present capture by Nebuchadnezzar had cost him a year and a half’s siege.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
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.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
For the sins of her false prophets. [Because of the] false [prophets], this evil has befallen her. 18 Alternately, ‘because of the sins committed against the prophets,’ namely the murder of Zecharyah, this evil has befallen her.
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
13 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לֹ֤א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| הֶאֱמִ֙ינוּ֙ | heeminu | they believed | H539 → | |
| מַלְכֵי־ | malkhei- | [the] kings of | H4428 → | 2525 times |
| אֶ֔רֶץ | ʾeretz | [the] earth | H776 → | 2504 times |
| כֹּ֖ל | khol | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| יֹשְׁבֵ֣י | yoshevei | [the] inhabitants of | H3427 → | 1079 times |
| תֵבֵ֑ל | tevel | [the] world | H8398 → | |
| כִּ֤י | ki | that | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| יָבֹא֙ | yavo' | he will go | H935 → | 2568 times |
| צַ֣ר | tzar | opponent | H6862 → | 109 times |
| וְאוֹיֵ֔ב | veoyev | and enemy | H341 → | 282 times |
| בְּשַׁעֲרֵ֖י | beshaarei | in [the] gates of | H8179 → | 374 times |
| יְרוּשָׁלִָֽם׃ ס | yerushalim | Jerusalem | H3389 → | 643 times |
לֹ֤אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
הֶאֱמִ֙ינוּ֙they believed
heeminuH539 →
מַלְכֵי־[the] kings of
malkhei-H4428 →2525 times
אֶ֔רֶץ[the] earth
ʾeretzH776 →2504 times
כֹּ֖לall
kholH3605 →5413 times
יֹשְׁבֵ֣י[the] inhabitants of
yosheveiH3427 →1079 times
תֵבֵ֑ל[the] world
tevelH8398 →
כִּ֤יthat
kiH3588 →4482 times
יָבֹא֙he will go
yavo'H935 →2568 times
צַ֣רopponent
tzarH6862 →109 times
וְאוֹיֵ֔בand enemy
veoyevH341 →282 times
בְּשַׁעֲרֵ֖יin [the] gates of
beshaareiH8179 →374 times
יְרוּשָׁלִָֽם׃ סJerusalem
yerushalimH3389 →643 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 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
Jeremiah 21:13Behold, I am against you who dwell above the valley, atop the rocky plateau—declares the LORD—you who say, “Who can come against us? Who can enter our dwellings?”
it leads to
- Obadiah 1:3–4
The pride of your heart has deceived you, O dwellers in the clefts of the rocks whose habitation is the heights, who say in your heart, ‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’
- Ezekiel 13:8
Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Because you have uttered vain words and seen false visions, I am against you, declares the Lord GOD.
- Psalms 125:2
As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds His people, both now and forevermore.
- Jeremiah 23:30–32
“Therefore behold,” declares the LORD, “I am against the prophets who steal from one another words they attribute to Me.”
- Jeremiah 49:4–5
Why do you boast of your valleys—your valleys so fruitful, O faithless daughter? You trust in your riches and say, ‘Who can come against me?’
- Obadiah 1:3–4
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Lamentations
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; 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.