Lamentations 4:2

The precious sons of Zion, || Who are comparable with fine gold, || How they have been reckoned earthen bottles, || Work of the hands of a potter.

Literal Standard Version

In The King James Version

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

In Context

1[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.

3Even dragons have drawn out the breast, || They have suckled their young ones, || The daughter of my people has become cruel, || Like the ostriches in a wilderness.

Read all of Lamentations 4

Cross References

Isaiah 30:14And He has broken it || As the breaking of the potters’ bottle, || Beaten down—He does not spare, || Nor is there found, in its beating down, || A potsherd to take fire from the burning, || And to draw out waters from a ditch.”

Jeremiah 19:11and have said to them, Thus said YHWH of Hosts: Thus I break this people and this city, as one breaks the potter’s vessel, that is not able to be repaired again, and in Tophet they bury—without place to bury;

Lamentations 2:21Lain on the earth [in] out-places have young and old, || My virgins and my young men have fallen by the sword, || You have slain in a day of Your anger, || You have slaughtered—You have not pitied.

Hosea 8:8Israel has been swallowed up, || Now they have been among nations, || As a vessel in which is no delight.

Romans 9:21Does the potter not have authority over the clay, out of the same lump to make one vessel to honor and one to dishonor?

2 Timothy 2:20And in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth, and some to honor, and some to dishonor:

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 4:2