Lamentations 1:4

Lamentations 1:4 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn feasts: all her gates are desolate: her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness.
• New International Version (NIV)The roads to Zion mourn, for no one comes to her appointed festivals. All her gateways are desolate, her priests groan, her young women grieve, and she is in bitter anguish.
• English Standard Version (ESV)The roads to Zion mourn, for none come to the festival; all her gates are desolate; her priests groan; her virgins have been afflicted, and she herself suffers bitterly.
• New King James Version (NKJV)The roads to Zion mourn Because no one comes to the set feasts. All her gates are desolate; Her priests sigh, Her virgins are afflicted, And she is in bitterness.

Context of Lamentations 1:4

2She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks; among all her lovers she hath no comforter; all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies. 3Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and because of great servitude; she dwelleth among the nations, she findeth no rest: all her pursuers have overtaken her within the straits. The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn assembly: all her gates are desolate; her priests sigh, her virgins are in grief; and as for her, she is in bitterness. 5Her adversaries have become the head, her enemies prosper; for Jehovah hath afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions: her children are gone into captivity before the adversary. 6And from the daughter of Zion all her splendour is departed: her princes are become like harts that find no pasture; and they are gone without strength before the pursuer.

Lamentations 1:4 word by word

דַּרְכֵ֨י צִיּ֜וֹן אֲבֵל֗וֹת מִבְּלִי֙ בָּאֵ֣י מוֹעֵ֔ד כָּל־שְׁעָרֶ֙יהָ֙ שֽׁוֹמֵמִ֔ין כֹּהֲנֶ֖יהָ נֶאֱנָחִ֑ים בְּתוּלֹתֶ֥יהָ נּוּג֖וֹת וְהִ֥יא מַר־לָֽהּ׃ סRead the interlinear

• waysדֶּ֫רֶךְderek · way: conductH1870
• Zionצִיּוֹןtsîyôn · ZionH6726
• mournאָבֵל'âbêl · mourningH57
• comeבּוֹאbô' · to come (in): comeH935
• gatesשַׁ֫עַרsha‛ar · gateH8179
• desolateשָׁמֵםshâmêm · be desolate: destroyedH8074
• priestsכֹּהֵןkôhên · priestH3548
• virginsבְּתוּלָהbethûlâh · virginH1330
• griefיָגָהyâgâh · to sufferH3013
• bitternessמַרmar mârâh · bitterH4751

Cross-references for Lamentations 1:4

• Lamentations 2:6And he hath violently cast down his enclosure as a garden; he hath destroyed his place of assembly: Jehovah hath caused set feast and sabbath to be forgotten in Zion, and hath despised in the indignation of his anger king and priest.
• Lamentations 5:13The young men have borne the mill, and the youths have stumbled under the wood.
• Isaiah 24:4The land mourneth, it fadeth away; the world languisheth, it fadeth away: the haughty people of the land do languish.
• Jeremiah 14:2Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish, they are black unto the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem goeth up.
• Micah 3:12Therefore shall Zion for your sake be ploughed [as] a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.
• Lamentations 2:9Her gates are sunk into the ground; he hath destroyed and broken her bars. Her king and her princes are among the nations: the law is no [more]; her prophets also find no vision from Jehovah.
• Jeremiah 9:11And I will make Jerusalem heaps, a dwelling-place of jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.
• Jeremiah 10:22The voice of a rumour! Behold, it cometh, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah a desolation, a dwelling-place of jackals.
• Jeremiah 33:10Thus saith Jehovah: In this place of which ye say, It is waste, without man and without beast! in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man, and without inhabitant, and without beast,
• Lamentations 1:11All her people sigh, they seek bread; they have given their precious things for food to revive [their] soul. See, Jehovah, and consider, for I am become vile.
• Lamentations 2:10The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground, they keep silence; they have cast dust upon their heads, they have girded themselves with sackcloth: the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their head to the ground.
• Isaiah 32:9Rise up, ye women that are at ease, hear my voice; ye careless daughters, give ear unto my speech.
• Joel 1:8Wail like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.

Commentaries on Lamentations 1:4

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 4The ways of Zion do mourn - A fine prosopopoeia. The ways in which the people trod coming to the sacred solemnities, being now no longer frequented, are represented as shedding tears; and the gates themselves partake of the general distress. All poets of eminence among the Greeks and Romans have recourse to this image. So Moschus, in his Epitaph on Bion, ver. 1-3: - , ̔<-144 ̔ . , , . . . "Ye winds, with grief your waving summits bow, Ye Dorian fountains…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 4Zion, as the holy city, is the symbol of the religious life of the people, just as Judah in the previous verse represents their national life. The “virgins” took a prominent part in all religious festivals Jeremiah 31:13; Exodus 15:20.Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 4Zion: In the Psalms and prophetic books, Zion represents the city of Jerusalem. In Lamentations, Zion is a poetic name for the city of Jerusalem. The writer uses this name even when the city lies in ruins (destroyed buildings and broken walls). Hebrews 12:22–24 speaks of the heavenly Zion (see also Revelation 14:1–5). The annual festivals in Jerusalem included: The Passover The Feast of Unleavened Bread The Feast of the Firstfruits (also called the Feast…Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 44. feasts--the passover, pentecost (or the feast of weeks), and the feast of tabernacles. gates--once the place of concourse. He.Read the comment

Topics related to Lamentations 1:4

• Captivity
• Virgin
• Zion

In the dictionaries

• Faint
• Poetry
• Acrostic
• Alphabet
• Gate
• Lamentations, Book of
• Poetry, Hebrew
• Proverbs, the Book of
• Writing

Commentaries on Lamentations 1

• 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
• Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings