Lamentations 4

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Lamentations 4

1 How is the gold become dim! how is the most fine gold changed! the stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of every street.

2 The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!

3 Even the sea monsters draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones: the daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.

4 The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst: the young children ask bread, and no man breaketh it unto them.

5 They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets: they that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.

6 For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands stayed on her.

7 Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was of sapphire:

8 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.

9 They that be slain with the sword are better than they that be slain with hunger: for these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the field.

10 The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

11 The Lord hath accomplished his fury; he hath poured out his fierce anger, and hath kindled a fire in Zion, and it hath devoured the foundations thereof.

12 The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the world, would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy should have entered into the gates of Jerusalem.

13 For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her,

14 They have wandered as blind men in the streets, they have polluted themselves with blood, so that men could not touch their garments.

15 They cried unto them, Depart ye; it is unclean; depart, depart, touch not: when they fled away and wandered, they said among the heathen, They shall no more sojourn there.

16 The anger of the Lord hath divided them; he will no more regard them: they respected not the persons of the priests, they favoured not the elders.

17 As for us, our eyes as yet failed for our vain help: in our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save us.

18 They hunt our steps, that we cannot go in our streets: our end is near, our days are fulfilled; for our end is come.

19 Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the heaven: they pursued us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness.

20 The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord, was taken in their pits, of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the heathen.

21 Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Uz; the cup also shall pass through unto thee: thou shalt be drunken, and shalt make thyself naked.

22 The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion; he will no more carry thee away into captivity: he will visit thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom; he will discover thy sins.

Notes

Cross Reference

Concordance

Commentary

Rashi

Verse 1

<html>How can it be that the golden glow has paled. This elegy was pronounced over Yoshiyahu,¹Who was killed in a battle with Pharaoh Necho. as it is stated in Divrei Hayomim, “Behold it is written in the Book of Lamentations,”²II Divrei Hayomim 35:25. and with it he joined, in the midst of the elegy, the rest of the children of Tzion. Paled. Dimmed, as in “כֵּהָה”³Vayikra 13:6. which is rendered [by the Targum as] עַמְיָא [=dimmed]. Golden. The appearance of a face that shines like gold. Altered. Changes its appearance. Jewel. A collection of beautiful gold articles used as ornaments is called כֶּתֶם. Sacred gems. Children who shine like precious stones. But the Midrash Aggadah [states that “sacred gems are spilled refers to], every fourth-part [=רְבִיעִית of blood that Yoshiyahu shed with each arrow that they thrust into him, Yirmiyahu buried in its place [i.e., where it spilled]. Concerning it he called out, “sacred gems are spilled.” </html>

Verse 2

<html>Who were evaluated in golden currency. Who were praised and valued like gold. Whoever saw them would say, “Look, the complexion of these is like the appearance of gold,” and similarly, “it cannot be praised תְסֻלֶּה with the gold jewelry of Ophir,”⁴Iyov 28:16. [and as in,] “with jewelry of fine gold, it cannot be praised תְסֻלֶּה”⁵Ibid. 28:19. [and as in,] “praise סֹלּוּ Him Who rides the heavens.”⁶Tehilim 68:5. These are expressions of praise and value. Like flasks of clay. Earthen pitchers in which they pour wine, e.g., wine flasks, [as in,] “And they will smash their jars וְנִבְלֵיהֶם.”⁷Yirmiyahu 48:12. The scraps of broken metal utensils have some value, but the shards of broken earthenware have no value whatsoever. (Ramak) </html>

Verse 3

<html>Even the serpent. Even though it is cruel, it bares its breast. When it sees its offspring coming from afar, hungry, it uncovers its breasts from their sheath, for it has a cover over its breasts, and it takes them out so that its offspring should not see them covered up and turn away. Then they suckle their young. Yet the daughters of my people have become brutal. They see their children crying for bread, and yet no one breaks [bread] for them; for their own lives come before their children’s lives because of the hunger. </html>

Verse 5

<html>Those raised on richly colored brocade. On colored garments. Those raised. An expression [similar to], “And he brought אֹמֵן up Hadassah.”⁸Esther 2:7. Dungheaps. Heaps of dung; they lie on the dunghills in the street.</html>

Verse 6

<html>[My people’s] transgressions surpassed, etc. [The severity of] their punishment⁹Concerning S’dom, Scripture states, “her sin is extremely grave,” in Bereishis 18:20. However, concerning Yehudah, Scripture states, “The iniquity of the house of Yisroel and Yehudah is extremely extremely great,” in Yechezkeil 9:9. proves about them that their transgression is greater than that of Sodom.¹⁰S’dom’s sins were committed before the Torah was given and are considered accidental [חטא]. However, these sins were committed after the Torah had been given and were considered to be premeditated [עון]. (Palgei Mayim) Which was instantaneously overturned. The distress of Sodom was not prolonged; it was overturned as in one moment. Untouched by [human] hands. I.e., the hands of the enemy;¹¹Alternatively, ‘who had no prophets’ to lead them back to teshuvah; i.e., S’dom, unlike ‘my people,’ had no prophets to chastise them, therefore Bnei Yisroel’s ‘transgressions surpassed, etc.’ (Targum) but it was overthrown through angels.¹²Referring to S’dom. There are also Aggadic Midrashim, but they do not fit the sequence of the verses. </html>

Verse 7

<html>Her Nazirites were more pristine. Her princes, like נֵזֶר and כֶּתֶר [=a crown]. But I say [it means] actual Nazirites, who had long hair and were very handsome, and the antecedent is “of my people.”¹³Above Verse 6. Those who appeared redder than pearls. Those whose appearance was ruddier than coral and whose forms were like sapphire; their complexions became darker than charcoal.</html>

Verse 8

<html>Than charcoal. This is charcoal. [Their] bone[s]. An expression of appearance, as in, “like the appearance וּכְעֶצֶם of the heavens in purity,”¹⁴Shemos 24:10. color in O.F. Shrivelled. Shriveled and attached; and there is no similar [word in Scripture].</html>

Verse 9

<html>For they dripped with burst bellies, etc. The corpses [of those who died] because of hunger were swollen from the aroma of the fruits of the field. The enemies would roast meat on the grass outside the wall, and the aroma would go into those swollen from hunger, and their stomachs would split, and their feces would ooze. This is an uglier death than those slain by the sword. With burst bellies. Being split; either by the swelling of hunger or by the stabbing of the sword is called piercing [=דְּקִירָה. From [eating] the produce of the fields. Because of the roots and grass that they gathered and ate, their feces increased and they were loathsome. </html>

Verse 10

<html>Their food. For food, as in, “and he did not eat בָרָה food with them,”¹⁵II Shmuel 12:17. [and as in] “to serve Dovid a meal לְהַבְרוֹת.”¹⁶Ibid. 3:35. </html>

Verse 11

<html>Adonoy spent His wrath. Which burned in Him for many years.¹⁷God’s fury is compared to a ‘consuming fire’ as in Eichah 2:3 above; also see Devorim 4:24. He now spent it when He avenged Himself upon them. </html>

Verse 13

<html>For the sins of her false prophets. [Because of the] false [prophets], this evil has befallen her.¹⁸Alternately, ‘because of the sins committed against the prophets,’ namely the murder of Zecharyah, this evil has befallen her. (Eichah Rabbah 4:16) Or ‘because of the sins committed by her prophets and kohanim who burnt incense for idol worship, this evil has befallen her.’ (Targum) </html>

Verse 14

<html> The blind slithered in the streets. When the blind would walk in the street, they would stagger, and their feet would slip on the blood of the slain,¹⁹Alternatively, ‘they wandered through the streets blindly.’ whom the wicked were slaying in its [Yerusholayim] midst. Filthied with blood. They were so sullied with blood that those near them could not touch their clothes, and would therefore call out to them.²⁰“Get away, you are contaminated, etc.” </html>

Verse 15

<html>Get away. From us, you unclean ones, who are sullied with blood. For they were obscene. An expression of foulness and filth,²¹Alternatively, ‘they blasphemed.[נצונאצו].’ as in, “its crop מֻרְאָתוֹ with its feathers,”²²Vayikra 1:16. which is translated [by the Targum] as בְּאוּכְלֵיהּ. So did Menachem classify it. And slithering. They slipped in blood..</html>

Verse 16

<html>In Adonoy’s glaring anger He dispersed them. The angry face of the Holy One, Blessed Is He, divided and separated them among the nations, because they did not respect the presence of the kohanim when they were in their tranquility. </html>

Verse 17

<html>We persisted in longingly eyeing illusive reinforcements. When the evil befell us, our eyes were still looking forward to Pharaoh’s army, concerning whom it is stated, “And the Egyptians, they help in vain and to no purpose,”²³Yeshayahu 30:7. for they would promise us aid but they would not come, as it is stated concerning them, “Behold, Pharaoh’s army, which has come out to help [you], is returning to its land, to Egypt.”²⁴Yirmiyahu 37:7. We find in Midrash Kinos that they were coming in ships. The Holy One, Blessed Is He, hinted to the sea and caused inflated flasks²⁵The text in the Midrash is שלדותיהן, i.e., their skeletons. like human intestines to move about in the water. They said to each other, “These flasks are our forefathers, the men of Egypt who drowned in the sea on account of these Jews, and we are gong out to assist them?” They stopped and turned back. Yearning. We waited.</html>

Verse 18

<html>They lurked behind our steps. Our enemies stalked our footsteps [and prevented us] from walking in our streets, as in, “but for one who had not lain in ambush צָדָה”²⁶Shemos 21:13. [and as in,] “but you are stalking צָדָה my soul.”²⁷I Shmuel 34:12. </html>

Verse 20

<html>Adonoy’s anointed. That is Yoshiyahu, as it is stated in Divrei Hayomim, “And Yirmiyahu lamented over Yoshiyahu.”²⁸II Divrei Hayomim 35:25. See Maseches Ta’anis 22b. Alternatively, ‘Adonoy’s appointed’ refers to Tzidkiyahu king of Yehudah who was blinded and carried off to Bavel in chains by the people of Kasdim. In their pitfalls. In the pits that they dug.</html>

Verse 21

<html>Rejoice in gladness city of Edom. Yirmiyahu prophesied about the destruction of the second Beis Hamikdosh which the Romans would destroy.²⁹Alternatively, it refers to Edom who rejoiced at the downfall of Yerusholayim and rejoiced at the destruction of the first Beis Hamikdosh, as it says “Remember, Adonoy, for the offspring of Edom…who say ‘Destroy! Destroy!’ etc., in Tehilim 137:7. Rejoice in gladness. For the time being, but ultimately, the cup of retribution will pass also over you, and you will become drunk from it. [Till] you vomit. And you will throw up, as in, “and she emptied וַתְּעַר her pitcher.”³⁰Bereishis 24:20. </html>

Verse 22

<html>You have been fully chastised for your sins city of Tzion. You suffered for all your sins. He will never exile you again. After the exile of Edom.</html>

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Table of Contents

Lamentations 4

Lamentations 4

Notes

Cross Reference

Concordance

Commentary

Rashi

Verse 1

Verse 2

Verse 3

Verse 5

Verse 6

Verse 7

Verse 8

Verse 9

Verse 10

Verse 11

Verse 13

Verse 14

Verse 15

Verse 16

Verse 17

Verse 18

Verse 20

Verse 21

Verse 22