Lamentations 4:9

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

JPS TaNaKH 1917

In The King James Version

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.

In Context

8Their visage is blacker than coal; they are not known in the streets; their skin is shrivelled upon their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick.

10The hands of women full of compassion have sodden their own children; they were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

Read all of Lamentations 4

Cross References

Deuteronomy 28:51And he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy ground, until thou be destroyed; that also shall not leave thee corn, wine, or oil, the increase of thy kine, or the young of thy flock, until he have caused thee to perish.

Jeremiah 16:4They shall die of grievous deaths; they shall not be lamented, neither shall they be buried, they shall be as dung upon the face of the ground; and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine; and their carcasses shall be meat for the fowls of heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.

Ezekiel 7:15The sword is without, and the pestilence and the famine within; he that is in the field shall die with the sword, and he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him.

Ezekiel 33:10Therefore, O thou son of man, say unto the house of Israel: Thus ye speak, saying: Our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we pine away in them; how then can we live?

Matthew Henry on Lamentations 4:2-13

Desolate Condition of Jerusalem; Effects of Famine in Jerusalem; Destruction of Jerusalem. ( b. c. 588.) 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… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Lamentations 4:9