Parallel Verses
International Standard Version
Those who die by the sword are better off than those who die from starvation, who slowly waste away like those pierced through for lack of food from the fields.
New American Standard Bible
Than those
For they
For lack of the fruits of
King James Version
They that be slain with the sword are better than they that be slain with hunger: for these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the field.
Holman Bible
ט Tet
than those slain by hunger,
who waste away, pierced with pain
because the fields lack produce.
A Conservative Version
Those who are slain with the sword are better than those who are slain with hunger, for these pine away, stricken through, for want of the fruits of the field.
American Standard Version
They that are slain with the sword are better than they that are slain with hunger; For these pine away, stricken through, for want of the fruits of the field.
Amplified
Those killed with the sword
Are more fortunate than those killed with hunger;
For the hungry pine and ebb away,
For the lack of the fruits of the field.
Bible in Basic English
Those who have been put to the sword are better off than those whose death is caused by need of food; for these come to death slowly, burned up like the fruit of the field.
Darby Translation
The slain with the sword are happier than the slain with hunger; for these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the field.
Julia Smith Translation
Those wounded by the sword were good above those wounded by famine: these will flow away, being thrust through from the produce of the field.
King James 2000
They that are slain with the sword are better than they that are slain with hunger: for these pine away, stricken through for lack of the fruits of the field.
Lexham Expanded Bible
Happier were [the] victims of [the] sword than the victims of famine; they have pined away, very hungry for the crops of my field.
Modern King James verseion
Better are the ones slain by the sword than the ones slain by hunger; those who pine away, pierced because the fruits of my fields failed.
Modern Spelling Tyndale-Coverdale
{Tet} They that be slain with the sword, are happier than such as die of hunger, and perish away famishing for the fruits of the field.
NET Bible
(Tet) Those who died by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger, those who waste away, struck down from lack of food.
New Heart English Bible
Those who are killed with the sword are better than those who are killed with hunger; those who waste away, pierced through, for lack of the fruits of the field.
The Emphasized Bible
Better are the slain of the sword, than the slain of the famine, - for, these, pine away, stricken through, wanting the produce of the field.
Webster
They that are slain with the sword are better than they that are slain with hunger: for these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the field.
World English Bible
Those who are killed with the sword are better than those who are killed with hunger; For these pine away, stricken through, for want of the fruits of the field.
Youngs Literal Translation
Better have been the pierced of a sword Than the pierced of famine, For these flow away, pierced through, Without the increase of the field.
Themes
Interlinear
Towb
hem
References
Fausets
Word Count of 20 Translations in Lamentations 4:9
Verse Info
Context Readings
Zion Is Punished
8 Now their faces are blacker than coal; they are unrecognized in the streets. Their skin clings to their bones; it has become dry like a stick. 9 Those who die by the sword are better off than those who die from starvation, who slowly waste away like those pierced through for lack of food from the fields. 10 With their own hands, compassionate women boil their own children they become their food when my beloved people were destroyed.
Cross References
Leviticus 26:39
The remnants among you will waste away in the land of your enemies due to their iniquity. Indeed, they'll also waste away on account of the iniquities of their ancestors with them."
Ezekiel 24:23
Your turbans will be on your heads and your sandals will be on your feet. You won't mourn or weep. Instead, you'll waste away in your sins. Every one of you will groan to his relative.
Jeremiah 16:4
"They'll die of deadly diseases. People won't mourn for them, nor will they be buried. They'll be dung on the surface of the ground, and they'll come to an end with the sword and with famine. Their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky and the animals of the land."
Ezekiel 33:10
""Now, Son of Man, tell this to the house of Israel: "You keep saying, "Our crimes and sins burden us so much that we're rotting away, so how can we keep on living?"'