8 Darker than blackness hath been their visage, They have not been known in out-places, Cleaved hath their skin unto their bone, It hath withered -- it hath been as wood.
My skin hath been black upon me, And my bone hath burned from heat,
For consumed in smoke have been my days, And my bones as a fire-brand have burned. Smitten as the herb, and withered, is my heart, For I have forgotten to eat my bread. From the voice of my sighing Hath my bone cleaved to my flesh.
To my skin and to my flesh Cleaved hath my bone, And I deliver myself with the skin of my teeth.
For I have been as a bottle in smoke, Thy statutes I have not forgotten.
and they go both of them till their coming in to Beth-Lehem; and it cometh to pass at their coming in to Beth-Lehem, that all the city is moved at them, and they say, `Is this Naomi?' And she saith unto them, `Call me not Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly to me,
and they lift up their eyes from afar and have not discerned him, and they lift up their voice and weep, and rend each his robe, and sprinkle dust on their heads -- heavenward.
At night my bone hath been pierced in me, And mine eyelids do not lie down. By the abundance of power, Is my clothing changed, As the mouth of my coat it doth gird me. Casting me into mire, And I am become like dust and ashes.
When by day and by night Thy hand is heavy upon me, My moisture hath been changed Into the droughts of summer. Selah.
Soundness is not in my flesh, Because of Thine indignation, Peace is not in my bones because of my sin.
As astonished at thee have been many, (So marred by man his appearance, And his form by sons of men.)
How is the gold become dim, Changed the best -- the pure gold? Poured out are stones of the sanctuary At the head of all out-places. The precious sons of Zion, Who are comparable with fine gold, How have they been reckoned earthen bottles, Work of the hands of a potter.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Lamentations 4
Commentary on Lamentations 4 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 4
This chapter is another single alphabet of Lamentations for the destruction of Jerusalem, like those in the first two chapters.
Lam 4:1-12
The elegy in this chapter begins with a lamentation of the very sad and doleful change which the judgments of God had made in Jerusalem. The city that was formerly as gold, as the most fine gold, so rich and splendid, the perfection of beauty and the joy of the whole earth, has become dim, and is changed, has lost its lustre, lost its value, is not what it was; it has become dross. Alas! what an alteration is here!
Lam 4:13-20
We have here,
Lam 4:21-22
David's psalms of lamentation commonly conclude with some word of comfort, which is as life from the dead and light shining out of darkness; so does this lamentation here in this chapter. The people of God are now in great distress, their aspects all doleful, their prospects all frightful, and their ill-natured neighbours the Edomites insult over them and do all they can to exasperate their destroyers against them. Such was their violence against their brother Jacob (Obad. 10), such their spleen at Jerusalem, of which they cried, Rase it, rase it, Ps. 137:7. Now it is here foretold, for the encouragement of God's people,