All majesty has departed from the daughter of Zion. Her princes have become like deer that find no pasture. They have gone without strength before the pursuer.
Parallel Translations
-
All majesty has departed from the daughter of Zion. Her princes have become like deer that find no pasture. They have gone without strength before the pursuer.
-
And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed: her princes are become like harts that find no pasture, and they are gone without strength before the pursuer.
-
And gone is from the daughter of Zion all her splendour; her princes are become like harts that find no pasture, and they are gone without strength before the pursuer.
Cross-references (29)
Passages linked to Lamentations 1:6 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Ezekiel 24:25 “You, son of man, shouldn’t it be in the day when I take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that whereupon they set their heart, their sons and their daughters,
- Leviticus 26:36-37 “ ‘As for those of you who are left, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. The sound of a driven leaf will put them to flight; and they shall flee, as one flees from the sword. They will fall when no one pursues. They will stumble over one another, as it were before the sword, when no one pursues. You will have no power to stand before your enemies.
- Deuteronomy 28:25 Yahweh will cause you to be struck before your enemies. You will go out one way against them, and will flee seven ways before them. You will be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth.
- Deuteronomy 32:30 How could one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, and Yahweh had delivered them up?
- Joshua 7:12-13 Therefore the children of Israel can’t stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become devoted for destruction. I will not be with you any more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you. Get up! Sanctify the people, and say, ‘Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, for Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, “There is a devoted thing among you, Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted thing from among you.”
- 2 Samuel 4:11-12 How much more, when wicked men have slain a righteous person in his own house on his bed, should I not now require his blood from your hand, and rid the earth of you?” David commanded his young men, and they killed them, cut off their hands and their feet, and hanged them up beside the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ishbosheth, and buried it in Abner’s grave in Hebron.
- 2 Kings 19:21 This is the word that Yahweh has spoken concerning him: ‘The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you and ridiculed you. The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you.
- Psalms 44:9-11 But now you rejected us, and brought us to dishonor, and don’t go out with our armies. You make us turn back from the adversary. Those who hate us take plunder for themselves. You have made us like sheep for food, and have scattered us among the nations.
- Psalms 48:2-3 Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, on the north sides, the city of the great King. God has shown himself in her citadels as a refuge.
- Psalms 50:2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines out.
- Psalms 96:9 Worship Yahweh in holy array. Tremble before him, all the earth.
- Psalms 132:12-13 If your children will keep my covenant, my testimony that I will teach them, their children also will sit on your throne forever more.” For Yahweh has chosen Zion. He has desired it for his habitation.
- Isaiah 1:21 How the faithful city has become a prostitute! She was full of justice. Righteousness lodged in her, but now there are murderers.
- Isaiah 4:5 Yahweh will create over the whole habitation of Mount Zion and over her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night, for over all the glory will be a canopy.
- Isaiah 12:6 Cry aloud and shout, you inhabitant of Zion; for the Holy One of Israel is great among you!”
- Jeremiah 13:18 Say to the king and to the queen mother, “Humble yourselves. Sit down, for your crowns have come down, even the crown of your glory.
- Jeremiah 14:5-6 Yes, the doe in the field also calves and forsakes her young, because there is no grass. The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights. They pant for air like jackals. Their eyes fail, because there is no vegetation.
- Jeremiah 29:4 Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says to all the captives whom I have caused to be carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon:
- Jeremiah 47:3 At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong ones, at the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers don’t look back to their children for feebleness of hands;
- Jeremiah 48:41 Kerioth is taken, and the strongholds are seized. The heart of the mighty men of Moab at that day will be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.
- Jeremiah 51:30-32 The mighty men of Babylon have stopped fighting, they remain in their strongholds. Their might has failed. They have become as women. Her dwelling places are set on fire. Her bars are broken. One runner will run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every quarter. So the passages are seized. They have burned the reeds with fire. The men of war are frightened.”
- Jeremiah 52:7-8 Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled, and went out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden. Now the Chaldeans were against the city all around. The men of war went toward the Arabah, but the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him.
- Jeremiah 52:11 He put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in fetters, and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison until the day of his death.
- Jeremiah 52:13 He burned Yahweh’s house, and the king’s house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house, he burned with fire.
- Lamentations 2:1-7 How has the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger! He has cast the beauty of Israel down from heaven to the earth, and hasn’t remembered his footstool in the day of his anger. The Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob without pity. He has thrown down in his wrath the strongholds of the daughter of Judah. He has brought them down to the ground. He has profaned the kingdom and its princes. He has cut off all the horn of Israel in fierce anger. He has drawn back his right hand from before the enemy. He has burned up Jacob like a flaming fire, which devours all around. He has bent his bow like an enemy. He has stood with his right hand as an adversary. Has killed all that were pleasant to the eye. In the tent of the daughter of Zion, he has poured out his wrath like fire. The Lord has become as an enemy. He has swallowed up Israel. He has swallowed up all her palaces. He has destroyed his strongholds. He has multiplied mourning and lamentation in the daughter of Judah. He has violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were of a garden. He has destroyed his place of assembly. Yahweh has caused solemn assembly and Sabbath to be forgotten in Zion. In the indignation of his anger, he has despised the king and the priest. The Lord has cast off his altar. He has abhorred his sanctuary. He has given the walls of her palaces into the hand of the enemy. They have made a noise in Yahweh’s house, as in the day of a solemn assembly.
- Ezekiel 7:20-22 As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty; but they made the images of their abominations and their detestable things therein. Therefore I have made it to them as an unclean thing. I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a plunder; and they will profane it. I will also turn my face from them, and they will profane my secret place. Robbers will enter into it, and profane it.
- Ezekiel 11:22-23 Then the cherubim lifted up their wings, and the wheels were beside them. The glory of the God of Israel was over them above. Yahweh’s glory went up from the middle of the city, and stood on the mountain which is on the east side of the city.
- Ezekiel 24:21 ‘Speak to the house of Israel, “The Lord Yahweh says: ‘Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the pride of your power, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul pities; and your sons and your daughters whom you have left behind will fall by the sword.
- Zephaniah 3:14-17 Sing, daughter of Zion! Shout, Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, daughter of Jerusalem. Yahweh has taken away your judgments. He has thrown out your enemy. The King of Israel, Yahweh, is among you. You will not be afraid of evil any more. In that day, it will be said to Jerusalem, “Don’t be afraid, Zion. Don’t let your hands be weak.” Yahweh, your God, is among you, a mighty one who will save. He will rejoice over you with joy. He will calm you in his love. He will rejoice over you with singing.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain He continues the same subject. He says here that…
He continues the same subject. He says here that the daughter of Sion was denuded of all her ornaments. Now, we know what was the honor or dignity of that people; for Moses, in order to set forth the greatness of God’s grace, exclaims,
“What nation so illustrious under heaven!” (Deuteronomy 4:7.)
Read full note →
As, then, the singular gifts of God had been conferred on that people, it was a very sad spectacle to see that city, which once possessed the highest glory, robbed of all its honor and covered with disgrace, as we shall hereafter see. He then says that all her glory was taken away from the daughter of Sion.
Now, there is no need to enumerate all the kinds of honor or glory which belonged to the city Jerusalem. But it may be said first, that God had chosen there a habitation for himself; and then a sacerdotal kingdom was there, — the people were holy to God — they were his heritage, — there God had deposited his covenant, — he deemed all the Jews his children, and his will was that they should in return count him as their Father. As, then, they had been enriched with so many ornaments and so superior, it is no wonder that the Prophet deplored the state of the city when stripped of all its glory.
He then adds, that her princes were like famished harts for harts, as they are by nature swift, when pressed by want run as though they were flying. Since then the swiftness of that animal is so great, the Prophet says that the princes, who were wont to walk with so much gravity and to carry the appearance of great authority, had become swift, like harts oppressed with hunger; for they also labored under the want of everything. He adds that at length they went away, that is, they fled before their pursuers without strength. He intimates by these words that they dared not to contend with their enemies, but that they were so frightened that they fled, and thus proved that they were wholly disheartened and lifeless. It follows, —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain As men pined away with sorrow and that have…
As men pined away with sorrow and that have no courage.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Lam 1:6 And from the daughter of Zion all…
Lam 1:6 And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed: her princes are become like harts [that] find no pasture, and they are gone without strength before the pursuer.
Ver. 6. And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed.] Her glory, {as Isa 5:14} that is chiefly the temple, and the service of God in it. It is now Ichabod with her. The beauty and bulwark of a nation are God’s holy ordinances.
Read full note →
Her princes are become like harts,] i.e., Heartless, bereft of courage. They dare not make headway against an enemy.
Before the pursuer.] R. Solomon here observeth that the Hebrew word רורף is written in full, {Hebrew Text Note} so as it is scarcely anywhere else, to note the fulness of the persecution.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain All the inhabitants of Zion have lost their former…
All the inhabitants of Zion have lost their former beauty; whatsoever splendour the city had, whether from the multitude or gallantry of her inhabitants, it is all gone; her nobles are become thin and ill-favoured, like beasts almost starved, their enemies pursue them to destroy them, and they have no strength to oppose or resist them.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty…
And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed,.... The kingdom removed; the priesthood ceased; the temple, their beautiful house, burnt; the palaces of their king and nobles demolished; and everything in church and state that was glorious were now no more:
her princes are become like harts that find no pasture; that are heartless and without courage, fearful and timorous, as harts are, especially when destitute of food. The Targum is
Read full note →
"her princes run about for food, as harts run about in the wilderness, and find no place fit for pasture:''
and they are gone without strength before the pursuer; having no spirit nor courage to oppose the enemy, nor strength to flee from him, they fell into his hands, and so were carried captive; see Jer 52:8. Jarchi observes, that the word for "pursuer" has here all its letters, and nowhere else; and so denotes the full pursuit of the enemy, and the complete victory obtained by him.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Her princes ... - Jeremiah had before his mind…
Her princes ... - Jeremiah had before his mind the sad flight of Zedekiah and his men of war, and their capture within a few miles of Jerusalem Jer 39:4-5.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Beauty; princes’ palaces, but particularly the temple, ver. 10.…
Beauty; princes’ palaces, but particularly the temple, ver. 10. (Calmet) --- Rams, fleeing from place to place to seek relief. (Worthington)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain beauty . . . departed--her temple, throne, and priesthood.
beauty . . . departed--her temple, throne, and priesthood.
harts that find no pasture--an animal timid and fleet, especially when seeking and not able to "find pasture."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 6. Like harts — Like helpless, frightened deer, they…
6. Like harts — Like helpless, frightened deer, they flee exhausted before the pursuer in a desert land where they find no pasture.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 6. majesty] mg. less well, beauty. Exhaustion from hunger…
6. majesty] mg. less well, beauty. Exhaustion from hunger and fatigue has taken the place of dignity and wealth.
Her princes are become like harts] The most natural reference is to the flight and capture of Zedekiah and his princes, Jer_39:4 f. Cp. Jer_52:10. The LXX and Vulg. for “harts” read (with different vowel punctuation) rams, a word used elsewhere (e.g. Exo_15:15; see mg.) for leaders. But the figure needs an animal which is hunted. Budde therefore accepts the Targ. “stags.”
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (6) Her princes are become like harts . .…
(6) Her princes are become like harts . . .—Probably a reference to the flight and capture of Zedekiah (2Ki_25:5; Jer_39:5), who, with his sons and princes, fell into the hands of the Chaldæans, like fainting and stricken deer.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Beauty; rather, glory. Like harts that find no pasture;…
Beauty; rather, glory. Like harts that find no pasture; and therefore have no strength left to flee. An allusion to the attempted flight of Zedekiah and his companions. (Jer_39:4, Jer_39:5)
Her beauty departed from Zion.
Read full note →
I ZION HAD A BEAUTY OF HER OWN. The dwellings of Zion shone splendid in cedar and gold. A softer beauty was shed over her from old memories and tender associations. The spiritual Zion has her beauty. It is not the magnificence of marble columns and gilded decorations. The beauty of Zion is the beauty of her worship and life.
1. The beauty of holiness. Purity is beautiful as impurity is ugly. This high spiritual loveliness is like the glory of God.
2. The beauty of love. Zion was the place where the tribes assembled. Here all jealousies were to be laid aside and all quarrels healed. What is more beautiful than concession and forgiveness? This beauty should characterize the Church of Christ. "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!" etc. (Psalm 133).
3. The beauty of joy. Zion was the centre of festive gatherings. The sacred hill used to echo with shouts of gladness; it was enlivened with the timbrel and song of happy maidens. The joy of Divine grace imparts a sweetness to the very countenance of the faithful servant of God.
II ZION LOST HER BEAUTY. The fine city was sacked by ruthless soldiers; the splendid edifices rifled or fired; the pomp and pageantry dissipated by sword and axe. But the higher beauty of Zion was also lost, and lost before she was robbed of her external grandeur. Her holiness was corrupted. Sin destroys the spiritual beauty of the Christian. His white priestly garments are defiled when he descends into the mire of moral degradation. It is not only that sin will be visited with certain definite pains and penalties. Before that happens there is an indescribable loss in the tarnished character and marred beauty of the soul which, to one who is awake to the evil condition into which he has fallen, must be a shame and grief.
III THE LOSS OF THE BEAUTY OF ZION WAS A MOURNFUL CALAMITY. This beauty is no idle ornament, to be put off and on at the caprice of the wearer and for objects of idle display. It is the pledge of her King"s favour, the inspiration of her own best life, and the secret of her influence.
1. Health is lost. As when the sunlight which flashes on silvery lakes and mountain snows fades away, the chills and mists of night creep over the valley, so, when the glory of God departs from a soul, coldness, darkness, and death take its place.
2. Influence is lost. Christians are to be the light of the world. Losing their brightness, they cease to draw others to Christ. The fair countenance of the bride of Christ wins many guests to the wedding feast. Let her see that it is not marred, lest her Lord be dishonoured.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty…
Lam_1:6
And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed.
Read full note →
Departing glory
1. The Church of God doth esteem the exercises of religion e most excellent and glorious thing that can be had in this life.
(1) They are notable signs of Gods favour and presence.
(2) There is more true comfort in them than in the whole world besides.
2. The weakening of the rulers is the height of misery upon the rest of the members of that body.
3. That people hath a heavy judgment upon them whose guides are destitute and deprived of necessary courage.
4. They that have the greatest outward privilege do often come the soonest into distress when God punisheth for sin (Amo_6:7). (J. Udall.)
Sin ruinous and destructive
We do our utmost to protect great buildings from fire and tempest, and yet all the time those buildings are liable to another peril not less severe--the subtle decay of the very framework of the structure itself. The tissue of the wood silently and mysteriously deteriorates, and calamity as dire as a conflagration is precipitated. The whole of the magnificent roofing of the church of St. Paul in Rome had to be taken out at enormous expense because of the dry rot. Scientific men, by microscopic and chemical methods, have investigated the causes of this premature decay, and after patient search they have discovered not only the fungi which destroy the wood tissue, but also the spore that acts as the seed of the fungus. So this obscure, malign vegetation goes on in the heart of the wood, destroying the glory and strength of minister and palace. Character is liable to a similar danger. All evils do not come from the outside. Some of the worst possibilities of loss, weakness, and ruin emerge from within; the destroying agents work obscurely and stealthily, and are almost unsuspected until they nave wrought fatal mischief.
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
The city of Zion is spoken of as if it were a woman. In Lamentations, Zion and Jerusalem are names used to refer to the same city. (See: Personification)
Read full note →
Beauty has left the daughter of Zion
This speaks of everything beautiful in Zion being destroyed as if "beauty" were a person that left Zion. AT: "Everything that was beautiful about the daughter of Zion is destroyed"
daughter of Zion
This is a poetic name for Jerusalem, which is spoken of here as if it were a woman. (See: Personification)
Her princes have become like deer that cannot find pasture
This speaks of Zion's princes having nothing to eat like deer that cannot find grass to eat. AT: "Her princes are starving, they are like deer that cannot find grass to eat" (See: Simile)
deer
A deer is a medium-sized, grass-eating animal that is often hunted by humans for food. It is also a beautiful animal to look at.
they go without strength before
"they are not strong enough to run away from" or "they are very weak before"
their pursuer
"the person that is pursuing them"
translationWords
daughter of Zion
prince
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.