American Standard Version
Lamentations 4:17
17Our eyes do yet fail in looking for our vain help:In our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save.
Lamentations 4:17 in other versions
- King James Version (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.
- New International Version (NIV)Moreover, our eyes failed, looking in vain for help; from our towers we watched for a nation that could not save us.
- English Standard Version (ESV)Our eyes failed, ever watching vainly for help; in our watching we watched for a nation which could not save.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Still our eyes failed us, Watching vainly for our help; In our watching we watched For a nation that could not save us.
Context of Lamentations 4:17
15Depart ye, they cried unto them, Unclean! depart, depart, touch not! When they fled away and wandered, men said among the nations, They shall no more sojourn here. 16The anger of Jehovah hath scattered them; he will no more regard them: They respected not the persons of the priests, they favored not the elders. Our eyes do yet fail in looking for our vain help: In our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save. 18They hunt our steps, so that we cannot go in our streets: Our end is near, our days are fulfilled; for our end is come. 19Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the heavens: They chased us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness.
Read all of Lamentations 4Lamentations 4:17 word by word
עוֹדֵ֙ינוּ֙ תִּכְלֶ֣ינָה עֵינֵ֔ינוּ אֶל־עֶזְרָתֵ֖נוּ הָ֑בֶל בְּצִפִּיָּתֵ֣נוּ צִפִּ֔ינוּ אֶל־גּ֖וֹי לֹ֥א יוֹשִֽׁעַ׃ סRead the interlinear
Cross-references for Lamentations 4:17
- Lamentations 1:19I called for my lovers, butthey deceived me: My priests and mine elders gave up the ghost in the city, While they sought them food to refresh their souls.
- 2 Kings 24:7And the king of Egypt came not again any more out of his land; for the king of Babylon had taken, from the brook of Egypt unto the river Euphrates, all that pertained to the king of Egypt.
- Isaiah 20:5And they shall be dismayed and confounded, because of Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their glory.
- Isaiah 30:1Woe to the rebellious children, saith Jehovah, that take counsel, but not of me; and that make a league, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin,
- Isaiah 31:1Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help, and rely on horses, and trust in chariots because they are many, and in horsemen because they are very strong, but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek Jehovah!
- Jeremiah 2:18And now what hast thou to do in the way to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Shihor? or what hast thou to do in the way to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River?
- Jeremiah 8:20The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.
- Jeremiah 30:7Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.
- Ezekiel 29:6And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am Jehovah, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel.
Commentaries on Lamentations 4:17
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 17We 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.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. 1717. As for us--This translation forms the best antithesis to the language of the heathen (La 4:15, 16). Calvin translates, "While as yet we stood as a state, our eyes failed," &c. watched for a nation that could not save us--Egypt (2Ki 24:7; Is 30:7; Jr 37:5-11). Tzaddi.Read the comment
Topics related to Lamentations 4:17
In the dictionaries
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
American Standard Version — 1901 — Public Domain
Commentaries