Lamentations 1:4

The ways of Zion mourn, for no men come to the solemnity; all the gates thereof be destroyed, the priests thereof wail; the virgins thereof be defouled, and it is oppressed with bitterness. (The ways of Zion mourn, for no people come to its solemn feasts; all its gates be destroyed, its priests wail; its virgins be defiled, and it is oppressed with bitterness.)

Wycliffe Modern Spelling

In The King James Version

The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn feasts: all her gates are desolate: her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness.

In Context

3Judah passed from torment and multitude of servage, it dwelled among heathen men, and found no rest; all the pursuers thereof took it among anguishes. (Judah went into the torment of captivity and a multitude of servitude, or of slavery, it lived among the heathen, and found no rest; all of its pursuers brought it much anguish.)

5The enemies thereof be made in the head, and the enemies thereof be made rich, for the Lord spake on it. For the multitude of wickednesses thereof the little children thereof be led into captivity, before the face of the troubler. (Its enemies be put at its head, that is, they rule over it, and they be made rich, for the Lord spoke against it. For the multitude of its wickednesses its little children be led into captivity, by the enemy.)

Read all of Lamentations 1

Cross References

Isaiah 3:26And the gates thereof shall wail, and mourn; and it shall sit desolate in [the] earth. (And her gates shall wail, and mourn; and she shall sit desolate upon the ground.)

Isaiah 32:9Rich women, rise ye (up), and hear my voice; daughters trusting, perceive ye with ears my speech, (or trusting daughters, listen to what I have to say).

Jeremiah 10:22Lo! the voice of hearing cometh, and a great moving together from the land of the north, that it set the cities of Judah into wilderness, and a dwelling place of dragons. (Behold! tidings come, and then a great tumult from the land of the north, that shall turn the cities of Judah into a wilderness, and into a dwelling place for dragons, (or for jackals).)

Jeremiah 33:10The Lord saith these things, Yet in this place, which ye say to be forsaken, for no man is, neither beast, in the cities of Judah, and in the gates of Jerusalem, that be desolate, without man, and without dweller, and without beast, (The Lord saith these things, Yet again in this place, which ye say to be deserted, for there be no people, or beasts, in the cities of Judah, and within the gates of Jerusalem, which be desolate, without any people, yea, without any inhabitants, and without any beasts,)

Lamentations 1:18( And the city saith), The Lord is just (or The Lord is in the right), for I stirred his mouth to wrathfulness; all peoples, I beseech, hear ye, and see my sorrow; my virgins and my young men went forth into captivity.

Lamentations 2:9The gates thereof be pitched in the earth, he lost and all-brake the bars thereof; the king thereof and the princes thereof (be) among heathen men; the law is not, and the prophets thereof found not of the Lord a vision, either revelation. (Its gates be thrown onto the ground, he destroyed and broke up all its bars, or all its locks; its king and its leaders be put among the heathen; the Law is not, and its prophets cannot find a vision, that is, a revelation, from the Lord.)

Matthew Henry on Lamentations 1:2-12

Lamentations Since what Solomon says, though contrary to the common opinion of the world, is certainly true, that sorrow is better than laughter, and it is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting, we should come to the reading and consideration of the melancholy chapters of this book, not only willingly, but with an expectation to edify ourselves by them; and, that we may do this, we must compose ourselves to a holy sadness and resolve to weep with the weeping prophet. Let us consider,… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Lamentations 1:4