Lamentations 4:19
New International Version
Our pursuers were swifter than eagles in the sky; they chased us over the mountains and lay in wait for us in the desert.

New Living Translation
Our enemies were swifter than eagles in flight. If we fled to the mountains, they found us. If we hid in the wilderness, they were waiting for us there.

English Standard Version
Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles in the heavens; they chased us on the mountains; they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.

Berean Standard Bible
Those who chased us were swifter than the eagles in the sky; they pursued us over the mountains and ambushed us in the wilderness.

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

New King James Version
Our pursuers were swifter Than the eagles of the heavens. They pursued us on the mountains And lay in wait for us in the wilderness.

New American Standard Bible
Our pursuers were swifter Than the eagles of the sky; They chased us on the mountains, They waited in ambush for us in the wilderness.

NASB 1995
Our pursuers were swifter Than the eagles of the sky; They chased us on the mountains, They waited in ambush for us in the wilderness.

NASB 1977
Our pursuers were swifter Than the eagles of the sky. They chased us on the mountains; They waited in ambush for us in the wilderness.

Legacy Standard Bible
Our pursuers were swifter Than the eagles of the sky; They hotly pursued us on the mountains; They waited in ambush for us in the wilderness.

Amplified Bible
Our pursuers were swifter Than the eagles of the sky; They pursued us on the mountains, They waited in ambush for us in the wilderness.

Christian Standard Bible
Those who chased us were swifter than eagles in the sky; they relentlessly pursued us over the mountains and ambushed us in the wilderness.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Those who chased us were swifter than eagles in the sky; they relentlessly pursued us over the mountains and ambushed us in the wilderness.

American Standard Version
Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the heavens: They chased us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Qoph Our pursuers have been swifter than the eagles of Heaven! On the mountains they chased us and in the wilderness they ambushed us!

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the sky, they flew on the mountains, in the wilderness they laid wait for us.

Contemporary English Version
They swooped down faster than eagles from the sky. They hunted for us in the hills and set traps to catch us out in the desert.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Coph. Our persecutors were swifter than the eagles of the air: they pursued us upon the mountains, they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.

English Revised Version
Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the heaven: they chased us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Those who were hunting us were faster than eagles in the sky. They chased us in the mountains and ambushed us in the wilderness.

Good News Translation
Swifter than eagles swooping from the sky, they chased us down. They tracked us down in the hills; they took us by surprise in the desert.

International Standard Version
Our pursuers were swifter than soaring eagles; they pursued us over the mountains, lying in wait for us in the wilderness.

JPS Tanakh 1917
Our pursuers were swifter Than the eagles of the heaven; They chased us upon the mountains, They lay in wait for us in the wilderness.

Literal Standard Version
Swifter have been our pursuers, | Than the eagles of the heavens, | On the mountains they have burned [after] us, | In the wilderness they have laid wait for us.

Majority Standard Bible
Those who chased us were swifter than the eagles in the sky; they pursued us over the mountains and ambushed us in the wilderness.

New American Bible
Our pursuers were swifter than eagles in the sky, In the mountains they were hot on our trail, they ambushed us in the wilderness.

NET Bible
Those who pursued us were swifter than eagles in the sky. They chased us over the mountains; they ambushed us in the wilderness.

New Revised Standard Version
Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles in the heavens; they chased us on the mountains, they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.

New Heart English Bible
Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the sky. They chased us on the mountains, they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.

Webster's Bible Translation
Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of heaven: they pursued us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness.

World English Bible
Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the sky. They chased us on the mountains. They set an ambush for us in the wilderness.

Young's Literal Translation
Swifter have been our pursuers, Than the eagles of the heavens, On the mountains they have burned after us, In the wilderness they have laid wait for us.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Distress of Zion
18They stalked our every step, so that we could not walk in our streets. Our end drew near, our time ran out, for our end had come! 19Those who chased us were swifter than the eagles in the sky; they pursued us over the mountains and ambushed us in the wilderness. 20The LORD’s anointed, the breath of our life, was captured in their pits. We had said of him, “Under his shadow we will live among the nations.”…

Cross References
Leviticus 26:36
As for those of you who survive, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies, so that even the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight. And they will flee as one flees the sword, and fall when no one pursues them.

Deuteronomy 28:49
The LORD will bring a nation from afar, from the ends of the earth, to swoop down upon you like an eagle--a nation whose language you will not understand,

Isaiah 5:26
He lifts a banner for the distant nations and whistles for those at the ends of the earth. Behold--how speedily and swiftly they come!

Isaiah 30:16
"No," you say, "we will flee on horses." Therefore you will flee! "We will ride swift horses," but your pursuers will be faster.

Isaiah 30:17
A thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you will all flee, until you are left alone like a pole on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill.

Jeremiah 4:13
Behold, he advances like the clouds, his chariots like the whirlwind. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are ruined!

Habakkuk 1:8
Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves of the night. Their horsemen charge ahead, and their cavalry comes from afar. They fly like a vulture, swooping down to devour.


Treasury of Scripture

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

persecutors

Deuteronomy 28:49
The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand;

Isaiah 5:26-28
And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly: …

Isaiah 30:16,17
But ye said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye flee: and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift…

the eagles.

Amos 2:14
Therefore the flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not strengthen his force, neither shall the mighty deliver himself:

Amos 9:1-3
I saw the Lord standing upon the altar: and he said, Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake: and cut them in the head, all of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: he that fleeth of them shall not flee away, and he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered…

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Ambush Burned Chased Desert Driving Eagles Heaven Heavens Laid Mountains Persecutors Pursued Pursuers Quicker Secretly Sky Swifter Vultures Wait Waited Waiting Waste Wilderness
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Ambush Burned Chased Desert Driving Eagles Heaven Heavens Laid Mountains Persecutors Pursued Pursuers Quicker Secretly Sky Swifter Vultures Wait Waited Waiting Waste Wilderness
Lamentations 4
1. Zion bewails her pitiful estate
13. She confesses her sins
21. Edom is threatened and Zion comforted.














(19) Our persecutors.--Better, Our pursuers, the words referring to the Chaldaean enemies rather than to persecutors in the modern sense of the word. The comparison with eagles has a parallel in Deuteronomy 28:49. If we take the second clause as referring to the flight of Zedekiah, mentioned in the next verse, the mountains would be the heights east of Jerusalem, beginning with the Mount of Olives, and the wilderness that of the Ghor, or Jordan Valley (Jeremiah 39:5).

Verse 19. - Swifter than the eagles of the heaven. Jeremiah, or his imitator, repeats the figure which occurs in Jeremiah 4:13. There is probably no special reference to the circumstances of the capture of Zedekiah (Jeremiah 39:4, 5); the escape of many fugitives would be similarly cut off.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Those who chased us
רֹדְפֵ֔ינוּ (rō·ḏə·p̄ê·nū)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine plural construct | first person common plural
Strong's 7291: To pursue, chase, persecute

were
הָיוּ֙ (hā·yū)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 1961: To fall out, come to pass, become, be

swifter
קַלִּ֤ים (qal·lîm)
Adjective - masculine plural
Strong's 7031: Light, swift, fleet

than the eagles
מִנִּשְׁרֵ֖י (min·niš·rê)
Preposition-m | Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 5404: The eagle

in the sky;
שָׁמָ֑יִם (šā·mā·yim)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 8064: Heaven, sky

they pursued us
דְּלָקֻ֔נוּ (də·lā·qu·nū)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person common plural | first person common plural
Strong's 1814: To burn, hotly pursue

over
עַל־ (‘al-)
Preposition
Strong's 5921: Above, over, upon, against

the mountains
הֶהָרִ֣ים (he·hā·rîm)
Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 2022: Mountain, hill, hill country

and ambushed us
אָ֥רְבוּ (’ā·rə·ḇū)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 693: To lie in wait

in the wilderness.
בַּמִּדְבָּ֖ר (bam·miḏ·bār)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 4057: A pasture, a desert, speech


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OT Prophets: Lamentations 4:19 Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles (Lam. La Lm)
Lamentations 4:18
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