Lamentations 4:8

Lamentations 4:8 in other versions

• King James Version (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.
• New International Version (NIV)But now they are 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.
• English Standard Version (ESV)Now their face is blacker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets; their skin has shriveled on their bones; it has become as dry as wood.
• New King James Version (NKJV)Now their appearance is blacker than soot; They go unrecognized in the streets; Their skin clings to their bones, It has become as dry as wood.

Context of Lamentations 4:8

6The punishment of my dear people is greater than that of Sodom, which was overthrown in an instant without a hand laid on it. 7Her dignitaries were brighter than snow, whiter than milk; their bodies were more ruddy than coral, their appearance like lapis lazuli. Now they appear darker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones; it has become dry like wood. 9Those slain by the sword are better off than those slain by hunger, who waste away, pierced with pain because the fields lack produce. 10The hands of compassionate women have cooked their own children; they became their food during the destruction of my dear people.

Lamentations 4:8 word by word

חָשַׁ֤ךְ מִשְּׁחוֹר֙ תָּֽאֳרָ֔ם לֹ֥א נִכְּר֖וּ בַּחוּצ֑וֹת צָפַ֤ד עוֹרָם֙ עַל־עַצְמָ֔ם יָבֵ֖שׁ הָיָ֥ה כָעֵֽץ׃ סRead the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Their visageתֹּ֫אַרtô'ar · appearanceH8389
• is blackerחָשַׁךְchâshak · to darkenH2821
• than a coalשְׁחוֹרshechôr · blacknessH7815
• they are not knownנָכַרnâkar · to recognizeH5234
• in the streetsחוּץchûts chûts · outsideH2351
• their skinעוֹר‛ôr · skinH5785
• cleavethצָפַדtsâphad · to shrivelH6821
• to their bonesעֶ֫צֶם‛etsem · boneH6106
• it is witheredיָבֵשׁyâbêsh · to witherH3001
• it is become like a stickעֵץ‛êts · tree: woodH6086

Cross-references for Lamentations 4:8

• Lamentations 5:10Our skin is as hot as an oven from the ravages of hunger.
• Job 30:17Night pierces my bones, but my gnawing pains never rest.
• Joel 2:6Nations writhe in horror before them; all faces turn pale.
• Nahum 2:10Desolation, decimation, devastation! Hearts melt, knees tremble, insides churn, every face grows pale!
• Lamentations 4:1How the gold has become tarnished, the fine gold become dull! The stones of the temple lie scattered at the head of every street.
• Ruth 1:19The two of them traveled until they came to Bethlehem. When they entered Bethlehem, the whole town was excited about their arrival and the local women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”
• Job 2:12When they looked from a distance, they could barely recognize him. They wept aloud, and each man tore his robe and threw dust into the air and on his head.
• Isaiah 52:14Just as many were appalled at you — his appearance was so disfigured that he did not look like a man, and his form did not resemble a human being —
• Job 19:20My skin and my flesh cling to my bones; I have escaped with only the skin of my teeth.
• Job 33:21His flesh wastes away to nothing, and his unseen bones stick out.
• Psalms 32:4For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was drained as in the summer’s heat.Selah
• Psalms 38:3There is no soundness in my body because of your indignation; there is no health in my bones because of my sin.
• Psalms 102:3For my days vanish like smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace.
• Psalms 119:83Though I have become like a wineskin dried by smoke, I do not forget your statutes.

Commentaries on Lamentations 4:8

• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 8Their visage … - Their form (their whole person, see 1 Samuel 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.Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 8Skin sticking to bones is symptomatic of the final stages of starvation, just before death.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 88. blacker than ... coal--or, "than blackness" itself (Joe 2:6; Na 2:10). like a stick--as withered as a dry stick. Teth.Read the comment

Topics related to Lamentations 4:8

• Famine

In the dictionaries

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

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