Lamentations 4:8 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Lamentations 4:1-12

The elegy in this chapter begins with a lamentation of the very sad and doleful change which the judgments of God had made in Jerusalem. The city that was formerly as gold, as the most fine gold, so rich and splendid, the perfection of beauty and the joy of the whole earth, has become dim, and is changed, has lost its lustre, lost its value, is not what it was; it has become dross. Alas! what an alteration is here! I. The temple was laid waste, which was the glory of Jerusalem and its... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 4:8

Their visage is blacker than a coal ,.... Or, "darker than blackness"; or, "dark through blackness" F25 חשך משחור "obscurior ipsa nigredine", Tigurine version; "magis quam nigredo vel carbo", Vatablus; "prae caligines", Calvin; "ex nigredine", Piscator. ; by reason of the famine, and because of grief and trouble for themselves and their friends, which changed their complexions, countenances, and skins; they that looked before as pure as snow, as white as milk, as clear as pearls,... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 4:8

Verse 8 Now, on the contrary, he says that the Nazarites were become withered, that their skin clave to their bones, that, in short, they were so deformed that they could not be known, not only in obscure corners, but even in the open street, hi the middle of the market-place. We hence learn that as the favor of God had before appeared as to the Nazarites, so now also his vengeance might be certainly known, because they had fallen off from their vigor, and were reduced to a degrading deformity.... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Lamentations 4:8

Their visage is blacker than a coal; rather, their appearance is darker than blackness —one of the hyperboles which seem to indicate that the poem was not written at the very moment of the calamity described (comp. Job 30:30 ). Not known in the streets. Another point of contact with the Book of Job ( Job 2:12 ). Their skin, etc. Again we must compare the lamentations of Job ( Job 19:20 ; Job 30:30 ). Psalms 102:5 may also be quoted; for the second half of the verse is toe... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Lamentations 4:8

Their visage ... - Their form (their whole person, see 1 Samuel 28:14)... as in the margin. See Job 30:30.It is withered, it is become like a stick - Or, It has become dry like a piece of wood. read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Lamentations 4:7-9

Lamentations 4:7-9. Her Nazarites were purer than snow It seems the word, נזיריה , ought not to be translated here Nazarites, or those who were separated by a vow to God; but princes, or chief men: so Waterland understands the word, as also Blaney, who renders it, her nobles. We find the same term applied to Joseph, as one separated, or distinguished in eminence and dignity above his brethren, Genesis 49:26. By being purer than snow, and whiter than milk, seems to be... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Lamentations 4:1-22

Corrupt leaders disgraced (4:1-22)Jerusalem’s former glory is contrasted with her present ruin. The once glorious temple, now defiled and shattered, is symbolic of the once glorious people now shamed and broken. Jerusalem’s dead lie in the streets like pieces of broken pottery (4:1-2). The writer recalls again the scene of horror during the siege. Wild beasts provide food for their young, but in Jerusalem mothers are unable to provide food for their children. Rich nobles die on the streets like... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Lamentations 4:8

known = recognized. read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Lamentations 4:8

8. blacker than . . . coal—or, "than blackness" itself (Joel 2:6; Nahum 2:10). like a stick—as withered as a dry stick. Teth. read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Lamentations 4:1-11

A. Conditions during the siege 4:1-11This section of the poem consists of two parallel parts (Lamentations 4:1-11). The Judahites had become despised (Lamentations 4:1-2; Lamentations 4:7-8), and both children and adults (everyone) suffered (Lamentations 4:3-5; Lamentations 4:9-10). This calamity was the result of Yahweh’s punishment for sin (Lamentations 4:6; Lamentations 4:11). read more