Lamentations 4:1
New International Version
How the gold has lost its luster, the fine gold become dull! The sacred gems are scattered at every street corner.

New Living Translation
How the gold has lost its luster! Even the finest gold has become dull. The sacred gemstones lie scattered in the streets!

English Standard Version
How the gold has grown dim, how the pure gold is changed! The holy stones lie scattered at the head of every street.

Berean Standard Bible
How the gold has become tarnished, the pure gold has become dull! The gems of the temple lie scattered on every street corner.

King James Bible
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.

New King James Version
How the gold has become dim! How changed the fine gold! The stones of the sanctuary are scattered At the head of every street.

New American Standard Bible
How dark the gold has become, How the pure gold has changed! The sacred stones are spilled out At the corner of every street.

NASB 1995
How dark the gold has become, How the pure gold has changed! The sacred stones are poured out At the corner of every street.

NASB 1977
How dark the gold has become, How the pure gold has changed! The sacred stones are poured out At the corner of every street.

Legacy Standard Bible
How dark the gold has become, How the pure gold has changed! The sacred stones are poured out At the head of every street.

Amplified Bible
How dark and dim the gold has become, How the pure gold has changed! The sacred stones [of the temple] are poured out and scattered At the head of every street.

Christian Standard Bible
How the gold has become tarnished, the fine gold become dull! The stones of the temple lie scattered at the head of every street.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
How the gold has become tarnished, the fine gold become dull! The stones of the temple lie scattered at the corner of every street.

American Standard Version
How is the gold become dim! how is the most pure gold changed! The stones of the sanctuary are poured out at the head of every street.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Aleph How the fine gold is rejected and the beautiful dyed garment departed, and the stones of holiness are cast out at the head of all the streets!

Brenton Septuagint Translation
ALEPH. How will the gold be tarnished, and the fine silver changed! the sacred stones have been poured forth at the top of all the streets.

Contemporary English Version
The purest gold is ruined and has lost its shine; jewels from the temple lie scattered in the streets.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Aleph. How is the gold become dim, the finest colour is changed, the stones of the sanctuary are scattered in the top of every street?

English Revised Version
How is the gold become dim! how is the most pure gold changed! the stones of the sanctuary are poured out at the top of every street.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
"Look how the gold has become tarnished! The fine gold has changed! The sacred stones are scattered at every street corner.

Good News Translation
Our glittering gold has grown dull; the stones of the Temple lie scattered in the streets.

International Standard Version
How tarnished the gold has become, the finest gold debased! Sacred stones have been scattered at every street corner.

JPS Tanakh 1917
How is the gold become dim! How is the most fine gold changed! The hallowed stones are poured out At the head of every street.

Literal Standard Version
[ALEPH-BET] How the gold has become dim, | Changed the best—the pure gold! Stones of the sanctuary are poured out | At the head of all out-places.

Majority Standard Bible
How the gold has become tarnished, the pure gold has become dull! The gems of the temple lie scattered on every street corner.

New American Bible
How the gold has lost its luster, the noble metal changed; Jewels lie scattered at the corner of every street.

NET Bible
Alas! Gold has lost its luster; pure gold loses value. Jewels are scattered on every street corner.

New Revised Standard Version
How the gold has grown dim, how the pure gold is changed! The sacred stones lie scattered at the head of every street.

New Heart English Bible
How the gold has become dim. How the most pure gold has changed. The stones of the sanctuary are poured out at the head of every street.

Webster's Bible Translation
How is the gold become dim! how is the most fine gold changed! the stones of the sanctuary are poured out at the head of every street.

World English Bible
How the gold has become dim! The most pure gold has changed! The stones of the sanctuary are poured out at the head of every street.

Young's Literal Translation
How is the gold become dim, Changed the best -- the pure gold? Poured out are stones of the sanctuary At the head of all out-places.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Distress of Zion
1How the gold has become tarnished, the pure gold has become dull! The gems of the temple lie scattered on every street corner. 2How the precious sons of Zion, once worth their weight in pure gold, are now esteemed as jars of clay, the work of a potter’s hands!…

Cross References
Ezekiel 7:19
They will throw their silver into the streets, and their gold will seem unclean. Their silver and gold cannot save them in the day of the wrath of the LORD. They cannot satisfy their appetites or fill their stomachs with wealth, for it became the stumbling block that brought their iniquity.

Ezekiel 22:18
"Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to Me. All of them are copper, tin, iron, and lead inside the furnace; they are but the dross of silver.

Micah 1:6
Therefore I will make Samaria a heap of rubble in the open field, a planting area for a vineyard. I will pour her stones into the valley and expose her foundations.


Treasury of Scripture

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.

how is the gold

2 Kings 25:9,10
And he burnt the house of the LORD, and the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great man's house burnt he with fire…

Isaiah 1:21
How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.

Isaiah 14:12
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

the stones

Lamentations 2:19
Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the watches pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord: lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children, that faint for hunger in the top of every street.

Jeremiah 52:13
And burned the house of the LORD, and the king's house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of the great men, burned he with fire:

Matthew 24:2
And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

Jump to Previous
Best Changed Corner Dark Dim Dropping Dull Fine Gold Grown Hallowed Head Holy Lie Out-Places Poured Pure Sacred Sanctuary Scattered Stones Street Streets Top
Jump to Next
Best Changed Corner Dark Dim Dropping Dull Fine Gold Grown Hallowed Head Holy Lie Out-Places Poured Pure Sacred Sanctuary Scattered Stones Street Streets Top
Lamentations 4
1. Zion bewails her pitiful estate
13. She confesses her sins
21. Edom is threatened and Zion comforted.














IV.

(1) How is the gold . . .--The chapter, considered as a distinct poem, reproduces in its general character that of Lamentations 1, 2, differing from them, however, in tracing more fully the connection between the sufferings and the sins of Judah. The "gold" and the stones of holiness are none other than the material treasures of palace or temple, and the repetition of the phrase "in the top of every street," used in Lamentations 2:19 of children, seems intended to indicate that the words include all that was most precious among the possessions of Jerusalem.

Verse 1. - How is the gold become dim!... the stones of the sanctuary, etc. "Alas for the sad sights of the capture of Jerusalem! The most fine gold has lost its brilliance now that the fire of Nebuzar-adan (2 Kings 25:9) has passed over it, and the precious stones, consecrated to Jehovah, have been cast out into the open street!" Not that the latter part of this description can have corresponded to literal fact. None of the hallowed jewels would have been treated with such indifference. The expression must be as figurative as the parallel one, "to cast pearls before swine," in Matthew 7:6. The precious stones are the "sons of Zion," who are compared to "fine gold" in ver. 2, precisely as they are in Zechariah 9:16 (comp. ver. 13," Thy sons, O Zion") to "the stones of a crown." They are called "stones of the sanctuary," in allusion, perhaps, to the precious stones employed in the decoration of the temple according to 1 Chronicles 29:2 and 2 Chronicles 3:6. But we may also translate hallowed stones, which better suits the figurative use of the phrase. Those, however, who adopt the literal interpretation, explain "the stones of the sanctuary" of the hewn stones of the fabric of the temple, which are described as "costly" in 1 Kings 5:17. But how can even a poet have represented the enemy as carrying these stones out and throwing them down in the street? On the other hand, in an earlier lamentation we are expressly told that the young children "fainted for hunger in the top of every street" (Lamentations 2:19).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
How
אֵיכָה֙ (’ê·ḵāh)
Interjection
Strong's 349: How?, how!, where

the gold
זָהָ֔ב (zā·hāḇ)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 2091: Gold, something gold-colored, as oil, a clear sky

has become tarnished,
יוּעַ֣ם (yū·‘am)
Verb - Hofal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 6004: To associate, to overshadow

the pure
הַטּ֑וֹב (haṭ·ṭō·wḇ)
Article | Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 2896: Pleasant, agreeable, good

gold
הַכֶּ֣תֶם (hak·ke·ṯem)
Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 3800: Something carved out, ore, gold

has become dull!
יִשְׁנֶ֖א (yiš·ne)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 8132: To change

The gems
אַבְנֵי־ (’aḇ·nê-)
Noun - feminine plural construct
Strong's 68: A stone

of the temple
קֹ֔דֶשׁ (qō·ḏeš)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 6944: A sacred place, thing, sanctity

lie scattered
תִּשְׁתַּפֵּ֙כְנָה֙ (tiš·tap·pê·ḵə·nāh)
Verb - Hitpael - Imperfect - third person feminine plural
Strong's 8210: To spill forth, to expend, to sprawl out

on every
כָּל־ (kāl-)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 3605: The whole, all, any, every

street
חוּצֽוֹת׃ (ḥū·ṣō·wṯ)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 2351: Separate by a, wall, outside, outdoors

corner.
בְּרֹ֖אשׁ (bə·rōš)
Preposition-b | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 7218: The head


Links
Lamentations 4:1 NIV
Lamentations 4:1 NLT
Lamentations 4:1 ESV
Lamentations 4:1 NASB
Lamentations 4:1 KJV

Lamentations 4:1 BibleApps.com
Lamentations 4:1 Biblia Paralela
Lamentations 4:1 Chinese Bible
Lamentations 4:1 French Bible
Lamentations 4:1 Catholic Bible

OT Prophets: Lamentations 4:1 How is the gold become dim! (Lam. La Lm)
Lamentations 3:66
Top of Page
Top of Page