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

6For the iniquities of the daughter of my people is greater than the sin of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment, yet no hands turned to her. 7Purer than snow were her princes, whiter than milk, their bodies more ruddy than rubies, their appearance like sapphire. Their form has become darker than soot! They are not recognized in the street. Their skin has shriveled on their bones, withered like a tree. 9Better are those slain by the sword than those struck down by famine— they waste away, racked with pain, for lack of fruits of the field. 10The hands of compassionate women boiled their own children. They became their food when the daughter of 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 due to fever from famine.
• Job 30:17Night pierces my bones within me; my gnawing pains never rest.
• Joel 2:6Before them peoples are in anguish. All faces become ashen gray.
• Nahum 2:10Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold! For there is no end of treasure— glory from everything precious.
• Lamentations 4:1How dulled is the gold, how tarnished the fine gold. The sacred gems are poured out at the corner of every street.
• Ruth 1:19So the two of them went on until they arrived in Bethlehem. As soon as they arrived in Bethlehem the whole city was excited because of them, and the women asked, “Is this Naomi?”
• Job 2:12But when they saw him from a distance they did not recognize him, and they raised their voices and wept. Each one tore his robe and threw dust into the air onto their heads.
• Isaiah 52:14Just as many were appalled at You— His appearance was disfigured more than any man, His form more than the sons of men.
• Job 19:20My bones cling to my skin and my flesh; I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.
• Job 33:21His flesh wastes away from sight, and his bones, once unseen, now stick out.
• Psalms 32:4For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me. My strength was drained as in the droughts of summer. Selah
• Psalms 38:3For Your arrows have sunk deep into me and Your hand has pressed down on me.
• Psalms 102:3Do not hide Your face from me in the day of my distress. Turn Your ear to me— in the day I call, answer me quickly.
• Psalms 119:83Though I became like a wineskin dried in 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