Lamentations 4:14

Lamentations 4:14 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)They have wandered as blind men in the streets, they have polluted themselves with blood, so that men could not touch their garments.
• New International Version (NIV)Now they grope through the streets as if they were blind. They are so defiled with blood that no one dares to touch their garments.
• English Standard Version (ESV)They wandered, blind, through the streets; they were so defiled with blood that no one was able to touch their garments.
• New King James Version (NKJV)They wandered blind in the streets; They have defiled themselves with blood, So that no one would touch their garments.

Context of Lamentations 4:14

12The kings in the other cities on earth could not believe it. None of the people on earth could believe it. They thought that no enemy could go through Jerusalem's gates. 13God punished Jerusalem and its people because their leaders sinned. God did not like the things that their prophets and priests did. They had caused good people to die. Those leaders walked in the streets like men who cannot see. There was blood on their clothes and everybody was afraid to touch them. 15‘Go away!’ people shouted at them. ‘Do not touch us! You are too dirty to be among God's people!’ So they went away to other countries, but the people there did not want them. ‘They cannot stay here with us!’ those people said. 16The Lord himself has sent them away. He will not take care of them any longer. Nobody respects the priests. Nobody is kind to the leaders.

Lamentations 4:14 word by word

נָע֤וּ עִוְרִים֙ בַּֽחוּצ֔וֹת נְגֹֽאֲל֖וּ בַּדָּ֑ם בְּלֹ֣א יֽוּכְל֔וּ יִגְּע֖וּ בִּלְבֻשֵׁיהֶֽם׃ סRead the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• They have wanderedנוּעַnûa‛ · to shakeH5128
• blindעִוֵּר‛ivvêr · blindH5787
• in the streetsחוּץchûts chûts · outsideH2351
• they have pollutedגָּאַלgâ'al · to defileH1351
• themselves with bloodדָּםdâm · bloodH1818
• so that men couldיָכֹלyâkôl yâkôl · be ableH3201
• notלֹאlô' lô' lôh · notH3808
• touchנָגַעnâga‛ · to touchH5060
• their garmentsלְבוּשׁlebûsh lebûsh · clothingH3830

Cross-references for Lamentations 4:14

• Deuteronomy 28:28The Lord will make you crazy and blind. He will confuse your thoughts.
• Isaiah 29:10It is the Lord who has caused you to be like that. He has caused you to be completely asleep. He has shut the eyes of your prophets and he has covered the heads of your seers.
• Isaiah 56:10Israel's guards are blind! They do not see what is happening. They are all like dogs that cannot make a noise. They cannot warn people about danger. They love to lie on the ground and they dream while they sleep.
• Isaiah 59:9Because of that, God's justice is far away from us. He has not come to save us. We look for light to come to us, but everything is dark. We need some light in our lives, but all we have is darkness.
• Micah 3:6Because of that, it will become like night for you. I will not show you my messages. You will no longer see what will happen in future times. The sun will go down over you prophets, and the day will become dark for you.
• Matthew 15:14Do not listen to what the Pharisees say. They are blind, but they try to show people which way to go. A blind person cannot lead another blind person. If he does, then both of them will fall into a deep hole.’
• Ephesians 4:18They cannot understand God's true message because their minds are in the dark. They have not accepted the life that God gives. They have decided that they do not want to know about God. They do not even try to understand.
• Numbers 35:33Murder causes the land where you live to become unclean. You have to make it clean again. You must kill anyone who murders another person. That is the only way to make the land clean again.
• Isaiah 1:15When you lift up your hands to pray to me, I have to look away. Even if you pray very many times to me, I do not listen to you, because your hands are full of blood.
• Jeremiah 2:34You have been cruel to poor people for no reason. Your clothes have their blood on them! They had not robbed you, but you still killed them. You have done all these bad things, but still you say,
• Numbers 19:16Also, a person might have killed someone with a sword out in the country. Or someone may have died because he was old or ill. Anyone who touches a dead body in the country will become unclean for seven days. Also if they touch a human bone, or a grave, that person will be unclean for seven days.
• Hosea 4:2They curse people, they tell lies, they murder people, they rob people. They are guilty of adultery. They continue to kill more and more people.
• Numbers 16:26Moses said to all the people, ‘Move away from the tents of these wicked men. Do not touch anything that belongs to them. If you do not move away, God may destroy you together with them, because of all their sins.’
• Psalms 6:8Go away from me, you people who do wicked things! Now the Lord has heard me when I weep.
• Psalms 139:19God, you should surely destroy the wicked people! Yes, you murderers, leave me alone!
• Micah 2:10Get up and go away! You cannot remain in this place because you have made it bad. It is so bad that it will completely destroy you.

Commentaries on Lamentations 4:14

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 14They have wandered as blind men in the streets - Rather, "They ran frantic through the streets, they were stained with blood." This was in their pretended zeal for their cause. Bishop Bonner, who was at the head of those sanguinary executions in England, was accustomed to buffet the poor Protestants, when on their examinations they were too powerful for him in argument: - "He proved his doctrine orthodox, By apostolic blows and knocks." Just as his elder…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 14They have wandered - God‘s ministers, consecrated to His service, wandered through the city blinded by the insatiable lust of slaughter. It was a pollution to touch their garments.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. 1414. blind--with mental aberration. polluted ... with blood--both with blood of one another mutually shed (for example, Jr 2:34), and with their blood shed by the enemy [Glassius]. not touch ... garments--as being defiled with blood (Nu 19:16). Samech.Read the comment

Topics related to Lamentations 4:14

• Minister, Christian

In the dictionaries

• 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