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.
• New International Version (NIV)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.
• 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.

Context of Lamentations 4:8

6The guilt of my people is greater than that of Sodom, where utter disaster struck in a moment and no hand offered help. 7Our princes once glowed with health— brighter than snow, whiter than milk. Their faces were as ruddy as rubies, their appearance like fine jewels. 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. 9Those killed by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger. Starving, they waste away for lack of food from the fields. 10Tenderhearted women have cooked their own children. They have eaten them to survive the siege.

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 5:10The famine has blackened our skin as though baked in an oven.
• Job 30:17At night my bones are filled with pain, which gnaws at me relentlessly.
• Joel 2:6Fear grips all the people; every face grows pale with terror.
• Nahum 2:10Soon the city is plundered, empty, and ruined. Hearts melt and knees shake. The people stand aghast, their faces pale and trembling.
• Lamentations 4:1How the gold has lost its luster! Even the finest gold has become dull. The sacred gemstones lie scattered in the streets!
• Ruth 1:19So the two of them continued on their journey. When they came to Bethlehem, the entire town was excited by their arrival. “Is it really Naomi?” the women asked.
• Job 2:12When they saw Job from a distance, they scarcely recognized him. Wailing loudly, they tore their robes and threw dust into the air over their heads to show their grief.
• Isaiah 52:14But many were amazed when they saw him. His face was so disfigured he seemed hardly human, and from his appearance, one would scarcely know he was a man.
• Job 19:20I have been reduced to skin and bones and have escaped death by the skin of my teeth.
• Job 33:21Their flesh wastes away, and their bones stick out.
• Psalms 32:4Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat. Interlude
• Psalms 38:3Because of your anger, my whole body is sick; my health is broken because of my sins.
• Psalms 102:3For my days disappear like smoke, and my bones burn like red-hot coals.
• Psalms 119:83I am shriveled like a wineskin in the smoke, but I have not forgotten to obey 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