Lamentations 4:9

American Standard Version with Strong's Numbers

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.

Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

טוֹבִ֤ים הָיוּ֙ חַלְלֵי־חֶ֔רֶב מֵֽחַלְלֵ֖י רָעָ֑ב שֶׁ֣הֵ֤ם יָז֙וּבוּ֙ מְדֻקָּרִ֔ים מִתְּנוּבֹ֖ת שָׂדָֽי׃

Transliteration

Ṭôḇîm were ḥallê-ḥereḇ than ḥallê rāʿāḇ; for they yāzûḇû məḏuqqārîm from tənûḇōṯ śāḏāy

Grammar Details

*ṭôḇîm*: masculine plural adjective - good/better
*hāyû*: Qal perfect, 3rd common plural - they were
*ḥallê*: masculine plural construct - slain of
*ḥereḇ*: feminine singular noun - sword
*mē-ḥallê*: preposition comparative + masculine plural construct - than slain of
*rāʿāḇ*: masculine singular noun - hunger/famine
*še-hēm*: relative particle + 3rd masculine plural pronoun - for they
*yāzûḇû*: Qal imperfect, 3rd masculine plural - they flow out
*məḏuqqārîm*: masculine plural Pual participle - pierced/stabbed
*mi-tənûḇōṯ*: preposition + feminine plural construct - from produce of
*śāḏāy*: masculine singular noun - field

Word Meanings

*ṭôḇîm*: better/more fortunate/happier
*ḥallê*: slain ones/pierced ones/wounded ones
*yāzûḇû*: flow out/waste away/pine away
*məḏuqqārîm*: pierced/stabbed/thrust through
*tənûḇōṯ*: produce/yield/fruits
*śāḏāy*: field/land/countryside

ℹ️

About this Translation

American Standard Version with Strong's Numbers

Formal EquivalenceSource: American Standard VersionBest for: Word studies and original-language research

🎯 Translation Approach

A highly literal, word-for-word translation (ASV, 1901) augmented with Strong's numbering to connect English words to underlying Hebrew and Greek terms for study.

Word-for-word

5/5

Readability

2/5

💎 Distinctive Features

Integrated Strong's numbering: Links English terms to underlying Hebrew and Greek words for deeper lexical study.
Formal equivalence: Prioritizes close alignment with source-language forms and structures.
Divine name rendering: Frequently renders the Tetragrammaton as Jehovah in the Old Testament, following ASV tradition.
Study-focused formatting: Optimized for reference and research rather than casual reading.

✅ Strengths

High fidelity to original languages
Includes Strong's numbers for precise word study
Consistent lexical choices aid exegesis
Stable, longstanding scholarly text

⚠️ Considerations

Archaic language reduces readability
Older textual basis compared to some modern translations
Strong's numbers are a concordance index, not full lexical definitions

👥 Who is this for?

Ideal for

Pastors and teachers
Seminary students
Serious Bible students
Readers conducting word studies
Those referencing Hebrew/Greek tools

Consider alternatives for

Casual readers
Children and early teens
ESL learners seeking simple English
Readers preferring contemporary language

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Additional Resources

Referenced Verses

Lev 26:39 : 39 And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies' lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them.
Ezek 24:23 : 23 And your tires shall be upon your heads, and your shoes upon your feet: ye shall not mourn nor weep; but ye shall pine away in your iniquities, and moan one toward another.
Ezek 33:10 : 10 And thou, son of man, say unto the house of Israel: Thus ye speak, saying, Our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we pine away in them; how then can we live?
Jer 16:4 : 4 They shall die grievous deaths: they shall not be lamented, neither shall they be buried; they shall be as dung upon the face of the ground; and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine; and their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the heavens, and for the beasts of the earth.

Similar Verses (AI)

These verses are found using AI-powered semantic similarity based on meaning and context. Results may occasionally include unexpected connections.

Lam 4:10
77%
10The hands of the pitiful women have boiled their own children; They were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
Lam 5:9-10
2 verses
75%
9We get our bread at the peril of our lives, Because of the sword of the wilderness.
10Our skin is black like an oven, Because of the burning heat of famine.
Ezek 7:15
75%
15The sword is without, and the pestilence and the famine within: he that is in the field shall die with the sword: and he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him.
Ezek 4:17
75%
17that they may want bread and water, and be dismayed one with another, and pine away in their iniquity.
Jer 18:21
74%
21Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and give them over to the power of the sword; and let their wives become childless, and widows; and let their men be slain of death, [and] their young men smitten of the sword in battle.
Jer 16:4
74%
4They shall die grievous deaths: they shall not be lamented, neither shall they be buried; they shall be as dung upon the face of the ground; and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine; and their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the heavens, and for the beasts of the earth.
Lam 4:8
74%
8Their visage is blacker than a coal; They are not known in the streets: Their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick.
Job 30:3
74%
3They are gaunt with want and famine; They gnaw the dry ground, in the gloom of wasteness and desolation.
1 Sam 2:5
73%
5They that were full have hired out themselves for bread; And they that were hungry have ceased [to hunger]: Yea, the barren hath borne seven; And she that hath many children languisheth.
Lam 4:5
73%
5They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets: They that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.
Jer 5:17
72%
17And they shall eat up thy harvest, and thy bread, [which] thy sons and thy daughters should eat; they shall eat up thy flocks and thy herds; they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig-trees; they shall beat down thy fortified cities, wherein thou trustest, with the sword.
Heb 11:37
72%
37they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, they were tempted, they were slain with the sword: they went about in sheepskins, in {G122} goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated
Isa 14:30
72%
30And the first-born of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety; and I will kill thy root with famine, and thy remnant shall be slain.
Isa 9:20
72%
20And one shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied: they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm:
Mic 6:14
71%
14Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied; and thy humiliation shall be in the midst of thee: and thou shalt put away, but shalt not save; and that which thou savest will I give up to the sword.
Jer 14:18
71%
18If I go forth into the field, then, behold, the slain with the sword! and if I enter into the city, then, behold, they that are sick with famine! for both the prophet and the priest go about in the land, and have no knowledge.
Isa 51:19
71%
19These two things are befallen thee, who shall bemoan thee? desolation and destruction, and the famine and the sword; how shall I comfort thee?
Lam 2:20-21
2 verses
71%
20See, O Jehovah, and behold to whom thou hast done thus! Shall the women eat their fruit, the children that are dandled in the hands? Shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?
21The youth and the old man lie on the ground in the streets; My virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword: Thou hast slain them in the day of thine anger; Thou hast slaughtered, [and] not pitied.
Zech 11:9
71%
9Then said I, I will not feed you: that which dieth, let it die; and that which is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let them that are left eat every one the flesh of another.
Jer 51:4
71%
4And they shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans, and thrust through in her streets.
Jer 19:9
71%
9And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters; and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend, in the siege and in the distress, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their life, shall distress them.
Jer 15:9
71%
9She that hath borne seven languisheth; she hath given up the ghost; her sun is gone down while it was yet day; she hath been put to shame and confounded: and the residue of them will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, saith Jehovah.
Amos 9:10
71%
10All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, The evil shall not overtake nor meet us.
Job 33:20-21
2 verses
71%
20So that his life abhorreth bread, And his soul dainty food.
21His flesh is consumed away, that it cannot be seen; And his bones that were not seen stick out.
Lam 2:12
71%
12They say to their mothers, Where is grain and wine? When they swoon as the wounded in the streets of the city, When their soul is poured out into their mothers' bosom.
Deut 32:25
71%
25[Without] [shall the sword] [bereave, And in the chambers] [terror;] [It shall destroy] both young man and virgin, The suckling with the man of gray hairs.
Isa 21:15
71%
15For they fled away from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the grievousness of war.
Job 5:20
71%
20In famine he will redeem thee from death; And in war from the power of the sword.
Joel 1:17
71%
17The seeds rot under their clods; the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the grain is withered.
Mic 3:3
70%
3who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them, and break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron.
Job 24:10-11
2 verses
70%
10[ So that] they go about naked without clothing, And being hungry they carry the sheaves.
11They make oil within the walls of these men; They tread [their] winepresses, and suffer thirst.
Jer 15:2
70%
2And it shall come to pass, when they say unto thee, Whither shall we go forth? then thou shalt tell them, Thus saith Jehovah: Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for captivity, to captivity.
Jer 14:16
70%
16And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and they shall have none to bury them—them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters: for I will pour their wickedness upon them.
Job 21:25
70%
25And another dieth in bitterness of soul, And never tasteth of good.
Ps 107:5
70%
5Hungry and thirsty, Their soul fainted in them.
Lam 1:11
70%
11All her people sigh, they seek bread; They have given their pleasant things for food to refresh the soul: See, O Jehovah, and behold; for I am become abject.
Ezek 6:12
70%
12He that is far off shall die of the pestilence; and he that is near shall fall by the sword; and he that remaineth and is besieged shall die by the famine: thus will I accomplish my wrath upon them.
Isa 14:19
70%
19But thou art cast forth away from thy sepulchre like an abominable branch, clothed with the slain, that are thrust through with the sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a dead body trodden under foot.
Amos 9:4
70%
4And though they go into captivity before their enemies, thence will I command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good.
Jer 11:22
70%
22therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Behold, I will punish them: the young men shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die by famine;
Job 5:5
70%
5Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, And taketh it even out of the thorns; And the snare gapeth for their substance.
Isa 13:15
70%
15Every one that is found shall be thrust through; and every one that is taken shall fall by the sword.
Jer 42:17
70%
17So shall it be with all the men that set their faces to go into Egypt to sojourn there: they shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence; and none of them shall remain or escape from the evil that I will bring upon them.
Isa 8:21
69%
21And they shall pass through it, sore distressed and hungry; and it shall come to pass that, when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse by their king and by their God, and turn their faces upward:
Isa 3:25
69%
25Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war.
Jer 34:20
69%
20I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life; and their dead bodies shall be for food unto the birds of the heavens, and to the beasts of the earth.