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.
• 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.
• New Living Translation (NLT)But now their faces are blacker than soot. No one recognizes them in the streets. Their skin sticks to their bones; it is as dry and hard as wood.

Context of Lamentations 4:8

6The punishment of my people is greater than that of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment without a hand turned to help her. 7Their princes were brighter than snow and whiter than milk, their bodies more ruddy than rubies, their appearance like lapis lazuli. 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. 9Those killed by the sword are better off than those who die of famine; racked with hunger, they waste away for lack of food from the field. 10With their own hands compassionate women have cooked their own children, who became their food when my people were destroyed.

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 hot as an oven, feverish from hunger.
• Job 30:17Night pierces my bones; my gnawing pains never rest.
• Joel 2:6At the sight of them, nations are in anguish; every face turns pale.
• Nahum 2:10She is pillaged, plundered, stripped! Hearts melt, knees give way, bodies tremble, every face grows pale.
• Lamentations 4:1How the gold has lost its luster, the fine gold become dull! The sacred gems are scattered at every street corner.
• Ruth 1:19So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”
• Job 2:12When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads.
• Isaiah 52:14Just as there were many who were appalled at him— his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness—
• Job 19:20I am nothing but skin and bones; I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.
• Job 33:21Their flesh wastes away to nothing, and their bones, once hidden, now stick out.
• Psalms 32:4For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.
• Psalms 38:3Because of your wrath there is no health in my body; there is no soundness in my bones because of my sin.
• Psalms 102:3For my days vanish like smoke; my bones burn like glowing embers.
• Psalms 119:83Though I am like a wineskin in the smoke, I do not forget your decrees.

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