Lamentations 4:19
in Lamentations 4Those who chased us were swifter than the eagles in the sky; they pursued us over the mountains and ambushed us in the wilderness.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the heavens: They chased us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness.
KJV
Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the heaven: they pursued us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness.
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This verse in Lamentations 4
Commentary
6 notes on this verseOur persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the heavens,.... That fly in the heavens; and which, as they have a quick sight to discern their prey afar off, are very swift to pursue it; they are the swiftest of birds, and are so to a proverb. Apuleius (i) represents the swift pursuit of their prey, and sudden falling upon it, to be like thunder and lightning.
This site's exposition
They stalked our every step
on Lamentations 4:18-19
Verse 18 describes a city with nowhere left to walk: “They stalked our every step, so that we could not walk in our streets”. Verse 19 names pursuers “swifter than the eagles in the sky”, matching the king's flight and capture near Jericho in 2 Kings 25:4-5.
This site's exposition
swifter than the eagles in the sky
Jeremiah 4:13 said the enemy's horses were swifter than eagles, and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown take these eagles as the Chaldean horsemen. Thomas Aquinas applies the pursuit to the king himself. Jeremiah 52:8 records that he was captured on the plains of Jericho and his army scattered.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Here thirdly a remedy in flight is excluded. Here is touched upon the account in the last part of Jeremiah (Chapter 52: "Judah Taken Captive at Babylon"). Then the Chaldeans captured Zedekiah (King of Judah) fleeing on a path to a wilderness, or solitude. As …
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
They pursued us upon the mountains - They hunted down the poor Jews like wild beasts in every part of the country by their marauding parties, whilst the great army besieged Jerusalem. But this may apply to the pursuit of Zedekiah. See what follows.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The last times just before the taking of the city. There was no place of escape; the foe intercepted those wishing to escape from the famine-stricken city, "on the mountains and in the wilderness." swifter . . . than . . . eagles--the Chaldean cavalry (Jer 4:13). pursued--literally, "to be hot"; then, "to pursue hotly" (Ge 31:36).
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| קַלִּ֤ים | kalim | swift | H7031 → | |
| הָיוּ֙ | hayu | they were | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| רֹדְפֵ֔ינוּ | rodefeinu | pursuers our | H7291 → | 143 times |
| מִנִּשְׁרֵ֖י | minishrei | more than [the] eagles of | H5404 → | |
| שָׁמָ֑יִם | shamayim | heaven | H8064 → | 421 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| הֶהָרִ֣ים | heharim | the mountains | H2022 → | |
| דְּלָקֻ֔נוּ | delakunu | they hotly pursued us | H1814 → | |
| בַּמִּדְבָּ֖ר | bamidbar | in the wilderness | H4057 → | 270 times |
| אָ֥רְבוּ | ʾarevu | they lay in wait | H693 → | |
| לָֽנוּ׃ ס | lanu | for us |
קַלִּ֤יםswift
kalimH7031 →
הָיוּ֙they were
hayuH1961 →3559 times
רֹדְפֵ֔ינוּpursuers our
rodefeinuH7291 →143 times
מִנִּשְׁרֵ֖יmore than [the] eagles of
minishreiH5404 →
שָׁמָ֑יִםheaven
shamayimH8064 →421 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
הֶהָרִ֣יםthe mountains
heharimH2022 →
דְּלָקֻ֔נוּthey hotly pursued us
delakunuH1814 →
בַּמִּדְבָּ֖רin the wilderness
bamidbarH4057 →270 times
אָ֥רְבוּthey lay in wait
ʾarevuH693 →
לָֽנוּ׃ סfor us
lanu
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
Habakkuk 1:8Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves of the night. Their horsemen charge ahead, and their cavalry comes from afar. They fly like a vulture, swooping down to devour.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 4:13
Behold, he advances like the clouds, his chariots like the whirlwind. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are ruined!
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 4:13
Through
Hosea 8:1Put the ram’s horn to your lips! An eagle looms over the house of the LORD, because the people have transgressed My covenant and rebelled against My law.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 28:49
The LORD will bring a nation from afar, from the ends of the earth, to swoop down upon you like an eagle—a nation whose language you will not understand,
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Hosea 6:7
But they, like Adam, have transgressed the covenant; there they were unfaithful to Me.
- Hosea 5:8
Blow the ram’s horn in Gibeah, the trumpet in Ramah; raise the battle cry in Beth-aven: Lead on, O Benjamin!
- Deuteronomy 28:49
Through
Jeremiah 4:13Behold, he advances like the clouds, his chariots like the whirlwind. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are ruined!
it leads to
- Isaiah 19:1
This is the burden against Egypt: Behold, the LORD rides on a swift cloud; He is coming to Egypt. The idols of Egypt will tremble before Him, and the hearts of the Egyptians will…
- Isaiah 66:15
For behold, the LORD will come with fire—His chariots are like a whirlwind—to execute His anger with fury and His rebuke with flames of fire.
- Isaiah 5:28
Their arrows are sharpened, and all their bows are strung. The hooves of their horses are like flint; their chariot wheels are like a whirlwind.
- Habakkuk 1:8
Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves of the night. Their horsemen charge ahead, and their cavalry comes from afar. They fly like a vulture, swooping down to devour.
- Isaiah 19:1
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Lamentations
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Carl Friedrich Keil, Lamentations; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Lamentations.