Lamentations 4:8
in Lamentations 4But now their appearance is blacker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones; it has become as dry as a stick.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets: Their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick.
KJV
Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets: their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick.
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This verse in Lamentations 4
Commentary
6 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Their visage ... - Their form (their whole person, see 1Sa 28:14)... as in the margin. See Job 30:30. It is withered, it is become like a stick - Or, It has become dry like a piece of wood.
This site's exposition
Her dignitaries were brighter than snow
on Lamentations 4:7-8
The word the King James renders Nazarites names the consecrated nobles, the Berean's dignitaries, drawn in the richest terms: “brighter than snow, whiter than milk”. Verse 8 turns the portrait inside out, the skin shriveled on the bones, so famine erases every mark of rank.
This site's exposition
blacker than soot
Each image of verse 7 is undone here: snow turns to soot, and bodies once ruddy dry out like a stick. Albert Barnes points to Job 30:30, where Job's skin grows black and his bones burn with fever. Famine made the city's nobles strangers in their own streets.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Here is considered the shame following from their knowledge, as to a change of color, or complexion. As expressed: "Now their visage is blacker than soot, they are not recognized in the streets; their skin has shriveled upon their bones, it has become as dry …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Their visage is blacker than a coal,....
Note, It is a thing to be much lamented that even those who are separated to God are yet, when desolating judgments are abroad, often involved with others in the common calamity. Jerusalem came down slowly, and died a lingering death; for the famine contributed more to her destruction than any other judgment whatsoever.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| חָשַׁ֤ךְ | chashakh | it is dark | H2821 → | |
| מִשְּׁחוֹר֙ | mishechor | more than soot | H7815 → | |
| תָּֽאֳרָ֔ם | tooram | appearance their | H8389 → | |
| לֹ֥א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| נִכְּר֖וּ | nikeru | they are recognized | H5234 → | |
| בַּחוּצ֑וֹת | bachutzot | in the streets | H2351 → | 164 times |
| צָפַ֤ד | tzafad | it has shriveled | H6821 → | |
| עוֹרָם֙ | oram | skin their | H5785 → | 99 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| עַצְמָ֔ם | ʾatzmam | bone their | H6106 → | 126 times |
| יָבֵ֖שׁ | yavesh | dry | H3002 → | |
| הָיָ֥ה | hayah | it has become | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| כָעֵֽץ׃ ס | khaetz | like <the> wood | H6086 → | 328 times |
חָשַׁ֤ךְit is dark
chashakhH2821 →
מִשְּׁחוֹר֙more than soot
mishechorH7815 →
תָּֽאֳרָ֔םappearance their
tooramH8389 →
לֹ֥אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
נִכְּר֖וּthey are recognized
nikeruH5234 →
בַּחוּצ֑וֹתin the streets
bachutzotH2351 →164 times
צָפַ֤דit has shriveled
tzafadH6821 →
עוֹרָם֙skin their
oramH5785 →99 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
עַצְמָ֔םbone their
ʾatzmamH6106 →126 times
יָבֵ֖שׁdry
yaveshH3002 →
הָיָ֥הit has become
hayahH1961 →3559 times
כָעֵֽץ׃ סlike <the> wood
khaetzH6086 →328 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
Job 30:30My skin grows black and peels, and my bones burn with fever.
it leads to
- Psalms 102:3
For my days vanish like smoke, and my bones burn like glowing embers.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 119:83
Though I am like a wineskin dried up by smoke, I do not forget Your statutes.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 102:3
Through
Psalms 119:83Though I am like a wineskin dried up by smoke, I do not forget Your statutes.
it leads to
- Job 30:30
My skin grows black and peels, and my bones burn with fever.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 119:176
I have strayed like a lost sheep; seek Your servant, for I have not forgotten Your commandments.
- Psalms 119:16
I will delight in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word.
- Psalms 119:61
Though the ropes of the wicked bind me, I do not forget Your law.
- Job 30:30
Through
Lamentations 5:10Our skin is as hot as an oven with fever from our hunger.
it leads to
- Lamentations 3:4
He has worn away my flesh and skin; He has shattered my bones.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Lamentations 3:4
Through
Job 19:20My skin and flesh cling to my bones; I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
it leads to
- Psalms 102:5
Through my loud groaning my flesh clings to my bones.
- Psalms 102:5
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); Carl Friedrich Keil, Lamentations; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Lamentations.