Lamentations 4:20

The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the LORD, was taken in their pits, of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the heathen.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
breath	ר֤וּחַ Ru.ach	H7307	wind · noun, common feminine singular construct
nostrils	אַפֵּ֙ינוּ֙ 'a.Pei.nu	H639	properly · noun, common masculine dual construct + pronominal suffix
anointed	מְשִׁ֣יחַ me.Shi.ach	H4899	anointed · noun, common masculine singular construct
LORD	יְהוָ֔ה Yah.weh	H3068	Jehovah · proper noun, a title
taken	נִלְכַּ֖ד nil.Kad	H3920	to catch (in a net · verb, niphal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
pits	בִּשְׁחִיתוֹתָ֑ם bish.chi.to.Tam	H7825	a pit-fall (literally or figuratively) · preposition + noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
said	אָמַ֔רְנוּ 'a.Mar.nu	H559	to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common plural
shadow	בְּצִלּ֖וֹ be.tzi.Lo	H6738	shade · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
live	נִֽחְיֶ֥ה nich.Yeh	H2421	to live · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common plural
heathen	בַגּוֹיִֽם va.go.Yim	H1471	a foreign nation · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine plural absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
2 Samuel 1:14 And David said unto him, How wast thou not afraid to stretch forth thine hand to destroy the LORD’s anointed?
2 Samuel 19:21 But Abishai the son of Zeruiah answered and said, Shall not Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed the LORD’s anointed?
Jeremiah 39:5 But the Chaldeans’ army pursued after them, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho: and when they had taken him, they brought him up…
Ezekiel 12:13 My net also will I spread upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare: and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet sha…
2 Samuel 1:21 Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither let there be rain, upon you, nor fields of offerings: for there the shield of the might…
Psalms 89:20-21 I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him:
Lamentations 2:9 Her gates are sunk into the ground; he hath destroyed and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no mo…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Lamentations 4:13-20

We have here, I. The sins they were charged with, for which God brought this destruction upon them, and which served to justify God in it (Lam 4:13, Lam 4:14): It is for the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests. Not that the people were innocent; no, they loved to have it so (Jer 5:31), and it was to please them that the prophets and priests did as they did; but the fault is chiefly laid upon them, who should have taught them better, should have reproved and admonished them, and told them what would be in the end hereof; of the hands of those watchmen who did not give them warning will their blood be required. Note, Nothing ripens a people more for ruin, nor fills the meas…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Lamentations 4:20

breath . . . anointed of . . . Lord--our king, with whose life ours was bound up. The original reference seems to have been to Josiah (Ch2 35:25), killed in battle with Pharaoh-necho; but the language is here applied to Zedekiah, who, though worthless, was still lineal representative of David, and type of Messiah, the "Anointed." Viewed personally the language is too favorable to apply to him. live among the heathen--Under him we hoped to live securely, even in spite of the surrounding heathen nations [GROTIUS].

Adam Clarke on Lamentations 4:20

The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord - That is, Zedekiah the king, who was as the life or the city, was taken in his flight by the Chaldeans, and his eyes were put out; so that he was wholly unfit to perform any function of government; though they had fondly hoped that if they surrendered and should be led captives, yet they should be permitted to live under their own laws and king in the land of their bondage.

John Gill on Lamentations 4:20

The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord, was taken in their pits,.... Or "the Messiah", or "the Christ of the Lord" (n); not Josiah, as the Targum; and so Jarchi and others; for though he was the Lord's anointed, and the life of the people, being the head of them, as every king is, especially a good one; yet he was slain, and not taken, and much less in their pits, and that not by the Chaldeans, but by the Egyptians; nor did the kingdom cease with him, or the end of the Jewish state then come, which continued some years after: but rather Zedekiah, as Aben Ezra and others, the last of the kings of Judah, with whom all agrees; he was the Lord's anointed as king, and the preserver…

The Church Fathers

Jeremiah, in prophesying of Christ, says, "The breath of our mouth, the Lord Christ, was taken in our sins," thus briefly showing both that Christ is our Lord and that he suffered for us.
— Augustine of Hippo, City of God 18.33

The body of God is a spiritual body; the body of Christ is the body of the divine Spirit, for the Spirit is Christ, as we read: "The Spirit before our face is Christ the Lord."
— Ambrose of Milan, On the Mysteries 9:58

One coming of Christ was accomplished in lowliness, but another is hoped for in glory; and this first coming in the flesh is, by a certain mystical manner of speech, in the holy scriptures called his "shadow," just as the prophet Jeremiah also announces, saying: "the spirit of our countenance, Christ the Lord, of whom we said: in his shadow we shall live among the nations." But Gabriel too, when he brought Mary the good tidings concerning his nativity, says: "the power of the Most High shall overshadow you."
— Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 8.4

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Josiah — Healed by Jehovah, or Jehovah will support. The son of Amon, and his successor on the throne of Judah (2 Kings 22:1; 2 Chr. 34:1). His history is contained in 2 Kings 22, 23. He stands foremost among…

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Lamentations 4:20

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Lamentations 4:13-20

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Lamentations 4:20

Adam Clarke on Lamentations 4:20

John Gill on Lamentations 4:20

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Lamentations 4:20

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Lamentations 4:13-20

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Lamentations 4:20

Adam Clarke on Lamentations 4:20

John Gill on Lamentations 4:20

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Lamentations 4:20

Keil & Delitzsch on Lamentations 4:12-20

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Lamentations 4:20

Rashi on Lamentations 4:20