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.
• 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.
• New Living Translation (NLT)The roads to Jerusalem are in mourning, for crowds no longer come to celebrate the festivals. The city gates are silent, her priests groan, her young women are crying— how bitter is her fate!

Context of Lamentations 1:4

2Bitterly she weeps at night, tears are on her cheeks. Among all her lovers there is no one to comfort her. All her friends have betrayed her; they have become her enemies. 3After affliction and harsh labor, Judah has gone into exile. She dwells among the nations; she finds no resting place. All who pursue her have overtaken her in the midst of her distress. 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. 5Her foes have become her masters; her enemies are at ease. The Lord has brought her grief because of her many sins. Her children have gone into exile, captive before the foe. 6All the splendor has departed from Daughter Zion. Her princes are like deer that find no pasture; in weakness they have fled 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

Words taken from the KJV.

• The waysדֶּ֫רֶךְderek · way: roadH1870
• of Zionצִיּוֹןtsîyôn · ZionH6726
• do mournאָבֵל'âbêl · mourningH57
• because none comeבּוֹאbô' · to come (in): comeH935
• to the solemn feastsמוֹעֵדmô‛êd mô‛êd mô‛âdâh · meeting: festivalH4150
• all her gatesשַׁ֫עַרsha‛ar · gateH8179
• are desolateשָׁמֵםshâmêm · be desolate: destroyedH8074
• her priestsכֹּהֵןkôhên · priestH3548
• sighאָנַח'ânach · to sighH584
• her virginsבְּתוּלָהbethûlâh · virginH1330
• are afflictedיָגָהyâgâh · to sufferH3013
• in bitternessמָרַרmârar · to provokeH4843

Cross-references for Lamentations 1:4

• Lamentations 2:6He has laid waste his dwelling like a garden; he has destroyed his place of meeting. The Lord has made Zion forget her appointed festivals and her Sabbaths; in his fierce anger he has spurned both king and priest.
• Lamentations 5:13Young men toil at the millstones; boys stagger under loads of wood.
• Isaiah 24:4The earth dries up and withers, the world languishes and withers, the heavens languish with the earth.
• Jeremiah 14:2“Judah mourns, her cities languish; they wail for the land, and a cry goes up from Jerusalem.
• Micah 3:12Therefore because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, the temple hill a mound overgrown with thickets.
• Lamentations 2:9Her gates have sunk into the ground; their bars he has broken and destroyed. Her king and her princes are exiled among the nations, the law is no more, and her prophets no longer find visions from the Lord.
• Jeremiah 9:11“I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals; and I will lay waste the towns of Judah so no one can live there.”
• Jeremiah 10:22Listen! The report is coming— a great commotion from the land of the north! It will make the towns of Judah desolate, a haunt of jackals.
• Jeremiah 33:10“This is what the Lord says: ‘You say about this place, “It is a desolate waste, without people or animals.” Yet in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem that are deserted, inhabited by neither people nor animals, there will be heard once more
• Lamentations 1:11All her people groan as they search for bread; they barter their treasures for food to keep themselves alive. “Look, Lord, and consider, for I am despised.”
• Lamentations 2:10The elders of Daughter Zion sit on the ground in silence; they have sprinkled dust on their heads and put on sackcloth. The young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground.
• Isaiah 32:9You women who are so complacent, rise up and listen to me; you daughters who feel secure, hear what I have to say!
• Joel 1:8Mourn like a virgin in sackcloth grieving for the betrothed 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