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 Lord himself has scattered them; he no longer watches over them. The priests are not respected; the elders find no favor. 17All the while our eyes were failing as we looked in vain for help; we watched from our towers for a nation that would not save us. Our steps were closely followed so that we could not walk in our streets. Our end approached; our time ran out. Our end had come! 19Those who chased us were swifter than eagles in the sky; they relentlessly pursued us over the mountains and ambushed us in the wilderness. 20The Lord’s anointed, the breath of our life, was captured in their traps. We had said about him, “We will live under his protection 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 3:52For no reason, my enemies hunted me like a bird.
• 1 Samuel 24:14Who has the king of Israel come after? What are you chasing after? A dead dog? A single flea?
• 2 Kings 25:4Then the city was broken into, and all the warriors fled at night by way of the city gate between the two walls near the king’s garden, even though the Chaldeans surrounded the city. As the king made his way along the route to the Arabah,
• Job 10:16If I am proud, you hunt me like a lion and again display your miraculous power against me.
• Psalms 140:11Do not let a slanderer stay in the land. Let evil relentlessly hunt down a violent man.
• Jeremiah 16:16“I am about to send for many fishermen” — this is the Lord’s declaration — “and they will fish for them. Then I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill and out of the clefts of the rocks,
• Jeremiah 39:4When King Zedekiah of Judah and all the fighting men saw them, they fled. They left the city at night by way of the king’s garden through the city gate between the two walls. They left along the route to the Arabah.
• Jeremiah 52:7Then the city was broken into, and all the warriors fled. They left the city at night by way of the city gate between the two walls near the king’s garden, though the Chaldeans surrounded the city. They made their way along the route to the Arabah.
• Jeremiah 1:12The Lord said to me, “You have seen correctly, for I watch over my word to accomplish it.”
• Jeremiah 51:33For this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Daughter Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time it is trampled. In just a little while her harvest time will come.
• Ezekiel 7:2“Son of man, this is what the Lord God says to the land of Israel: An end! The end has come on the four corners of the earth.
• Ezekiel 12:22“Son of man, what is this proverb you people have about the land of Israel, which goes, ‘The days keep passing by, and every vision fails’?
• Amos 8:2He asked me, “What do you see, Amos?” I replied, “A basket of summer fruit.” The Lord said to me, “The end has come for my people Israel; I will no longer spare them.

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