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

12Neither the kings of the earth nor anyone living on earth could believe that enemies or invaders would ever get through the gates of Jerusalem. 13⌞They got through⌟ because of the sins of Jerusalem’s prophets and the crimes of its priests, who spilled the blood of righteous people within it. My people staggered blindly through the streets. They were so contaminated with bloodstains that no one would touch their clothes. 15‘Get away! You’re unclean,’ people yelled at them. ‘Get away! Get away! Don’t touch anyone.’ When they fled and wandered around, the people of the nations said, ‘They can’t stay here any longer.’ 16The Lord himself has scattered them. He will no longer look favorably on them. They no longer respected the priests, nor did they honor their older 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 strike you with madness, blindness, and panic.
• Isaiah 29:10The Lord has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep. He will shut your eyes. (Your eyes are the prophets.) He will cover your heads. (Your heads are the seers.)
• Isaiah 56:10⌞Israel’s⌟ watchmen are blind. None of them know anything. All of them are like dogs that are unable to bark. They lie around dreaming; they love to sleep.
• Isaiah 59:9That is why justice is far from us, and righteousness doesn’t reach us. We hope for light, but we walk in darkness. We hope for brightness, but we walk in gloom.
• Micah 3:6That is why you will have nights without visions. You will have darkness without revelations. The sun will set on the prophets, and the day will turn dark for them.
• Matthew 15:14Leave them alone! They are blind leaders. When one blind person leads another, both will fall into the same pit.”
• Ephesians 4:18They can’t understand because they are in the dark. They are excluded from the life that God approves of because of their ignorance and stubbornness.
• Numbers 35:33“You must not pollute the land where you live. Murder is what pollutes the land. The land where a murder was committed can never make peace with the Lord except through the death of the murderer.
• Isaiah 1:15So when you stretch out your hands ⌞in prayer⌟, I will turn my eyes away from you. Even though you offer many prayers, I will not listen because your hands are covered with blood.
• Jeremiah 2:34You have the blood from poor and innocent people on your clothes. You didn’t kill them for breaking into your home.
• Numbers 19:16“Whoever is outdoors and touches someone who was killed or has died naturally or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave will be unclean for seven days.
• Hosea 4:2There is cursing, lying, murdering, stealing, and adultery. People break ⌞my laws⌟, and there is one murder after another.
• Numbers 16:26He said to the community, “Move away from the tents of these wicked men. Don’t touch anything that belongs to them, or you’ll be swept away because of all their sins.”
• Psalms 6:8Get away from me, all you troublemakers, because the Lord has heard the sound of my crying.
• Psalms 139:19I wish that you would kill wicked people, O God, and that bloodthirsty people would leave me alone.
• Micah 2:10Get up, and go away! This is not a place to rest! It will be destroyed, completely destroyed, because it offends me.

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