Parallel Verses
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
Their appearance is [now] blacker than soot [because of the prolonged famine];
They are not recognized in the streets;
Their skin clings to their bones;
It is withered, and it has become [dry] like wood.
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.
The hands of compassionate women
Boiled their own children;
They became food for them
Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people [Judah].
Cross References
Leviticus 26:39
Those of you who are left will rot away because of their wickedness in the lands of your enemies; also because of the wickedness of their forefathers they will rot away like them.
Ezekiel 24:23
Your turbans will be on your heads and your sandals on your feet. You will not mourn or weep, but you will rot away in your sins and you will groan to one another.
Jeremiah 16:4
“They will die of deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried; they will be like dung on the surface of the ground and come to an end by sword and famine, and their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth.”
Ezekiel 33:10
“Now as for you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus you have said, “Truly our transgressions and our sins are on us, and we are rotting away because of them; how then can we live?”’