Lamentations 4:19
What does Lamentations 4:19 mean?
A plain-English look at Lamentations 4:19 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Lamentations 4:19 means
The pursuers are faster than “the eagles of the heavens,” chasing over mountains and ambushing in the wilderness. No terrain offers relief. The imagery communicates overwhelming superiority and relentless intent. The hunted cannot outpace or outwit such foes. This is the felt experience of divine judgment executed through human instruments: every escape route closes. The verse also hints at the futility of traditional refuges—hills and deserts often served as places to hide, but not now. When God decides to expose and scatter, even the wilderness, normally a shield, becomes a snare.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the heavens: They chased us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness.
KJV
King James Version · 1611Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the heaven: they pursued us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the heavens: They chased us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949Those who went after us were quicker than the eagles of the heaven, driving us before them on the mountains, waiting secretly for us in the waste land.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862Swifter have been our pursuers, Than the eagles of the heavens, On the mountains they have burned <FI>after<Fi> us, In the wilderness they have laid wait for us.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752Coph. Our persecutors were swifter than the eagles of the air: they pursued us upon the mountains, they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the heavens; they chased us hotly upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness.
Context
Building on verse 18’s stifling control within the city, verse 19 expands the scope to the countryside, showing that neither mountains nor wilderness can hide the fugitives. This prepares for verse 20’s tragic announcement that even the king—the “breath of our nostrils”—is captured. The flow underscores comprehensive collapse: city, land, and leadership all succumb. After this climax of despair, the chapter will abruptly address Edom (verse 21) with a warning that its gloating will end in judgment, and then close with a tempered hope for Zion’s eventual restoration (verse 22).
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Jeremiah 4:13
Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as the whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto us! for we are ruined.
- Habakkuk 1:8
Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves; and their horsemen press proudly on: yea, their horsemen come from far; they fly as an eagle that hasteth to devour.
- Amos 9:1
I saw the Lord standing beside the altar: and he said, Smite the capitals, that the thresholds may shake; and break them in pieces on the head of all of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: there shall not one of them flee away, and there shall not one of them escape.
- Matthew 24:27
For as the lightning cometh forth from the east, and is seen even unto the west; so shall be the coming of the Son of man.
- Amos 2:14
And flight shall perish from the swift; and the strong shall not strengthen his force; neither shall the mighty deliver himself;
- Hosea 8:1
Setthe trumpet to thy mouth. As an eagle he cometh against the house of Jehovah, because they have transgressed my covenant, and trespassed against my law.
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