Lamentations 4:17
in Lamentations 4All the while our eyes were failing as we looked in vain for help. We watched from our towers for a nation that could not save us.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Our eyes do yet fail in looking for our vain help: In our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save.
KJV
As for us, our eyes as yet failed for our vain help: in our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save us.
⋯
This verse in Lamentations 4
Commentary
7 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
A rapid sketch of the last days of the siege and the capture of the king. Lam 4:17 Rather, “Still do our eyes waste away looking for our vain help.” In our watching - Or, “on our watchtower.” Lam 4:18 Or, They hunted “our steps that we could not go out into the streets. To hunt” means here to lie in ambush, and catch by snares; and the streets are literally “the wide places,” especially at the gates. Toward the end of the siege the towers erected by the enemy would command these places.
This site's exposition
The presence of the LORD has scattered them
on Lamentations 4:16-17
Verse 16 traces the scattering to its source: “The presence of the LORD has scattered them; He regards them no more”. Verse 17 confesses a misplaced hope, watching “for a nation that could not save us”, which the older commentators name as Egypt.
This site's exposition
looked in vain for help
Here ayin follows pe, the order of chapters 2 and 3. Adam Clarke names the nation as Egypt, the help the eyes on the towers watched for in vain. Jeremiah 37:7 had warned that Pharaoh's army would go back and leave Jerusalem to the enemy.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Here is excluded a tendency for excluding four things which could be evaded. First, is the aid of friends. As was said: "Our eyes failed, ever watching": as we would expect, "vainly for help": from the Egyptians. As Isaiah 30:3 says: "Therefore shall the protection …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
); they watched in watching; they watched long, and with a great deal of earnestness and impatience, for a nation that promised them assistance, but failed the, and frustrated their expectation. They could not save them; they were too weak to contend with the Chaldean army and therefore retired. Help from creatures is vain help ( Ps. lx.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation
As for us, our eyes as yet failed for our vain help,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
We have watched for a nation - Viz., the Egyptians, who were their pretended allies, but were neither able nor wilting to help them against the Chaldeans.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| עוֹדֵ֙ינוּ֙ | odeinu | yet we | H5750 → | |
| תִּכְלֶ֣ינָה | tikhleinah | they failed | H3615 → | 208 times |
| עֵינֵ֔ינוּ | ʾeineinu | eyes our | H5869 → | 887 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| עֶזְרָתֵ֖נוּ | ʾezratenu | help our | H5833 → | |
| הָ֑בֶל | havel | futility | H1892 → | |
| בְּצִפִּיָּתֵ֣נוּ | betzipiyatenu | in watchtower our | H6836 → | |
| צִפִּ֔ינוּ | tzipinu | we watched | H6822 → | |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| גּ֖וֹי | goy | a nation | H1471 → | 561 times |
| לֹ֥א | lo' | [which] not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יוֹשִֽׁעַ׃ ס | yoshia' | it will save | H3467 → |
עוֹדֵ֙ינוּ֙yet we
odeinuH5750 →
תִּכְלֶ֣ינָהthey failed
tikhleinahH3615 →208 times
עֵינֵ֔ינוּeyes our
ʾeineinuH5869 →887 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
עֶזְרָתֵ֖נוּhelp our
ʾezratenuH5833 →
הָ֑בֶלfutility
havelH1892 →
בְּצִפִּיָּתֵ֣נוּin watchtower our
betzipiyatenuH6836 →
צִפִּ֔ינוּwe watched
tzipinuH6822 →
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
גּ֖וֹיa nation
goyH1471 →561 times
לֹ֥א[which] not
lo'H3808 →5168 times
יוֹשִֽׁעַ׃ סit will save
yoshia'H3467 →
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
Ezekiel 29:16Egypt will never again be an object of trust for the house of Israel, but will remind them of their iniquity in turning to the Egyptians. Then they will know that I am the…
it leads to
- Ezekiel 29:6–7
Then all the people of Egypt will know that I am the LORD. For you were only a staff of reeds to the house of Israel.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Hosea 8:13
Though they offer sacrifices as gifts to Me, and though they eat the meat, the LORD does not accept them. Now He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins: They will return to…
- Isaiah 20:5
Those who made Cush their hope and Egypt their boast will be dismayed and ashamed.
- Ezekiel 29:6–7
Through
2 Kings 24:7Now the king of Egypt did not march out of his land again, because the king of Babylon had taken all his territory, from the Brook of Egypt to the Euphrates River.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 46:2
concerning Egypt and the army of Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt, which was defeated at Carchemish on the Euphrates River by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of…
- Jeremiah 37:5–7
Pharaoh’s army had left Egypt, and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard the report, they withdrew from Jerusalem.
- Jeremiah 46:2
Through
Lamentations 1:7In the days of her affliction and wandering Jerusalem remembers all the treasures that were hers in days of old. When her people fell into enemy hands she received no help. Her enemies looked…
it leads to
- Psalms 79:4
We have become a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and derision to those around us.
- Psalms 79:4
Through
Isaiah 20:5Those who made Cush their hope and Egypt their boast will be dismayed and ashamed.
it leads to
- Isaiah 30:5
everyone will be put to shame because of a people useless to them. They cannot be of help; they are good for nothing but shame and reproach.”
- Isaiah 30:3
But Pharaoh’s protection will become your shame, and the refuge of Egypt’s shade your disgrace.
- Isaiah 30:5
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Lamentations
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); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Lamentations.