Bible Strands
Lamentations 4:16
The presence of the LORD has scattered them; He regards them no more. The priests are shown no honor; the elders find no favor.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator addresses the surviving exiles fleeing Jerusalem's destruction, documenting the moment when the city's social and religious structures completely collapse. This declaration occurs amid widespread displacement and the failure of all human rescue.
The words — The Hebrew פְּנֵ֤י (pe.Nei) literally means "face" or "presence," and יוֹסִ֖יף (yo.Sif) means "he will add" or "repeat," combining to state that God simply will not look upon them again. The text records this as a factual cessation of divine attention rather than a metaphorical distance.
The thread — This pattern of divine withdrawal and leadership reversal runs through Isaiah 9:14, where God severs Israel's head and tail, and Lamentations 5:12, which confirms that elders receive no respect. Deuteronomy 32:26 also presents this scattering as a direct judicial act of God.
Why it lands — The verse requires readers to acknowledge that civil and religious authority derive their standing solely from divine favor. It demands a sober assessment of how quickly social order dissolves when that favor is explicitly withdrawn.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
The anger of the Lord hath divided them; he will no more regard them: they respected not the persons of the priests, they favoured not the elders.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 9:14 So the LORD will cut off Israel’s head and tail, both palm branch and reed in a single day.
- Lamentations 5:12 Princes have been hung up by their hands; elders receive no respect.
- Deuteronomy 32:26 I would have said that I would cut them to pieces and blot out their memory from mankind,
- Deuteronomy 28:25 The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will march out against them in one direction but flee from them in seven. You will be an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
- Deuteronomy 28:64 Then the LORD will scatter you among all the nations, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known.
- Jeremiah 24:9 I will make them a horror and an offense to all the kingdoms of the earth, a disgrace and an object of scorn, ridicule, and cursing wherever I have banished them.
- Hebrews 8:9 It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they did not abide by My covenant, and I disregarded them, declares the Lord.
- Genesis 49:7 Cursed be their anger, for it is strong, and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will disperse them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.
- Leviticus 26:33 But I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out a sword after you as your land becomes desolate and your cities are laid waste.
- 2 Kings 25:18 The captain of the guard also took away Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest of second rank, and the three doorkeepers.