Lamentations 4:18

Lamentations 4:18 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)They hunt our steps, that we cannot go in our streets: our end is near, our days are fulfilled; for our end is come.
• New International Version (NIV)People stalked us at every step, so we could not walk in our streets. Our end was near, our days were numbered, for our end had come.
• English Standard Version (ESV)They dogged our steps so that we could not walk in our streets; our end drew near; our days were numbered, for our end had come.
• New King James Version (NKJV)They tracked our steps So that we could not walk in our streets. Our end was near; Our days were over, For our end had come.

Context of Lamentations 4:18

16The presence of the Lord scattered them [among the nations]; He will not continue to look after them. They did not honor the priests; They did not favor the elders. 17[And as for us,] yet our eyes failed, Looking in vain for help. Watching [from the towers] we watched For a nation that could not save. The enemy hunted our steps, So that we could not walk in our streets; Our end drew near, Our days were finished For our end had come. 19Our pursuers were swifter Than the eagles of the sky; They pursued us on the mountains, They waited in ambush for us in the wilderness. 20The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord [our king], Was captured in their snares, He of whom we had said, “Under his shadow We shall live among the nations.”

Lamentations 4:18 word by word

צָד֣וּ צְעָדֵ֔ינוּ מִלֶּ֖כֶת בִּרְחֹבֹתֵ֑ינוּ קָרַ֥ב קִצֵּ֛ינוּ מָלְא֥וּ יָמֵ֖ינוּ כִּי־בָ֥א קִצֵּֽינוּ׃ סRead the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• They huntצוּדtsûd · to huntH6679
• our stepsצַ֫עַדtsa‛ad · stepH6806
• that we cannot goיָלַךְyâlak · to walkH3212
• in our streetsרְחוֹבrechôb rechôb · street/plazaH7339
• our endקֵץqêts · endH7093
• is nearקָרַבqârab · to present: comeH7126
• our daysיוֹםyôm · dayH3117
• are fulfilledמָלֵאmâlê' mâlâ' · to fillH4390
• is comeבּוֹאbô' · to come (in): comeH935

Cross-references for Lamentations 4:18

• Lamentations 3:52Without cause my enemies Hunted me down like a bird;
• 1 Samuel 24:14After whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom do you pursue [with three thousand men]? A dead dog, a single flea?
• 2 Kings 25:4Then the city [wall] was broken into [and conquered]; all the men of war fled by night by way of the gate between the two walls by the king’s garden, though the Chaldeans (Babylonians) were all around the city. And they went by way of the Arabah (the plain of the Jordan).
• Job 10:16Should I lift my head up, You would hunt me like a lion; And again You would show Your marvelous power against me.
• Psalms 140:11Do not let a slanderer be established in the earth; Let evil quickly hunt the violent man [to overthrow him and stop his evil acts].”
• Jeremiah 16:16“Behold (listen carefully), I will send for many fishermen,” says the Lord, “and they will fish for them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain and from every hill and out of the clefts of the rocks.
• Jeremiah 39:4When Zedekiah the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, they fled and escaped from the city at night by way of the king’s garden, through the gate between the two walls; and the king went out toward the Arabah (Jordan Valley).
• Jeremiah 52:7Then the city was broken into, and all the soldiers fled. They left the city at night [as Ezekiel prophesied] passing through the gate between the two walls by the king’s garden, though the Chaldeans were all around the city. They fled by way of the Arabah (the Jordan Valley).
• Jeremiah 1:12Then the Lord said to me, “You have seen well, for I am [actively] watching over My word to fulfill it.”
• Jeremiah 51:33For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “The Daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor At the time it is being trampled and prepared; Yet in a little while the time of harvest will come for her.”
• Ezekiel 7:2“Also, son of man, thus says the Lord God to the land of Israel, ‘An end! The end is coming on the four corners of the land.
• Ezekiel 12:22“Son of man, what is this proverb that you have in the land of Israel, saying, ‘The days are long and every vision fails’?
• Amos 8:2And He said, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me, “The end has come for My people Israel. I will spare them no longer [for the nation is ripe for judgment].

Commentaries on Lamentations 4:18

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 18We cannot go in our streets - Supposed to refer to the darts and other missiles cast from the mounds which they had raised on the outside of the walls, by which those who walked in the streets were grievously annoyed, and could not shield themselves.Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 17-20Verses 17-20 A rapid sketch of the last days of the siege and the capture of the king. Lamentations 4:17 Rather, “Still do our eyes waste away looking for our vain help.” In our watching - Or, “on our watchtower.” Lamentations 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…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 13-20Verses 13-20 Nothing ripens a people more for ruin, nor fills the measure faster, than the sins of priests and prophets. The king himself cannot escape, for Divine vengeance pursues him. Our anointed King alone is the life of our souls; we may safely live under his shadow, and rejoice in Him in the midst of our enemies, for He is the true God and eternal life.Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 1-22Although God’s people still experience his judgment, they will soon experience restoration.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1818. They--the Chaldeans. cannot go--without danger. Koph.Read the comment

In the dictionaries

• Comparable
• Dim
• Poetry
• Acrostic
• Alphabet
• Lamentations, Book of
• Poetry, Hebrew
• Proverbs, the Book of
• Siege

Commentaries on Lamentations 4

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings