Lamentations 4:18

Myles Coverdale Bible

They laye so sharpe waite for vs, that we can not go safe vpon the stretes: for oure ende is come, oure dayes are fulfilled, oure ende is here.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Our steps were closely followedso that we could not walk in our streets.Our end approached; our time ran out.Our end had come!

Hebrew Names Version
They hunt our steps, so that we can't go in our streets: Our end is near, our days are fulfilled; for our end is come.

King James Version
They hunt our steps, that we cannot go in our streets: our end is near, our days are fulfilled; for our end is come.

English Standard Version
They dogged our steps so that we could not walk in our streets; our end drew near; our days were numbered, for our end had come.

New American Standard Bible
They hunted our steps So that we could not walk in our streets; Our end drew near, Our days were finished For our end had come.

New Century Version
Our enemies hunted us, so we could not even walk in the streets. Our end is near. Our time is up. Our end has come.

Amplified Bible
The enemy hunted our steps, So that we could not walk in our streets; Our end drew near, Our days were finished For our end had come.

World English Bible
They hunt our steps, so that we can't go in our streets: Our end is near, our days are fulfilled; for our end is come.

Geneva Bible (1587)
They hunt our steppes that we cannot goe in our streetes: our ende is neere, our dayes are fulfilled, for our ende is come.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
They hunted our steps So that we could not walk in our streets; Our end drew near, Our days were finished For our end had come.

Legacy Standard Bible
They hunted our stepsSo that we could not walk in our open squares;Our end drew near,Our days were finished,For our end had come.

Berean Standard Bible
They stalked our every step, so that we could not walk in our streets. Our end drew near, our time ran out, for our end had come!

Contemporary English Version
Enemies hunted us down on every public street. Our time was up; our doom was near.

Complete Jewish Bible
They keep dogging our steps, so that we can't go out in our streets. Our end is near, our time is up; yes, our end has come.

Darby Translation
They hunted our steps, that we could not go in our streets: our end is near, our days are fulfilled; for our end is come.

Easy-to-Read Version
Our enemies hunted us all the time. We could not even go out into the streets. Our end came near. Our time was up. Our end came!

George Lamsa Translation
They hunt for the little people and for those who walk in the streets; our end is near, our days are finished, for our time is come.

Good News Translation
The enemy was watching for us; we could not even walk in the streets. Our days were over; the end had come.

Lexham English Bible
They hunted our steps, from walking in our streets; our end has come near, our days are finished, our end has come.

Literal Translation
They hunted our steps from going in our open places. Our end came near, our days were fulfilled, for our end had come.

American Standard Version
They hunt our steps, so that we cannot go in our streets: Our end is near, our days are fulfilled; for our end is come.

Bible in Basic English
They go after our steps so that we may not go in our streets: our end is near, our days are numbered; for our end has come.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
They hunt our steps, that we cannot go in our broad places; our end is near, our days are fulfilled; for our end is come.

King James Version (1611)
They hunt our steps that we cannot goe in our streets: our end is neere, our dayes are fulfilled, for our ende is come.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
They lay so sharpe wayte for vs, that we can not go safe vpon the streetes, for our ende is come, our dayes are fulfilled, our ende is here.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
We have hunted for our little ones, that they should not walk in our streets. KOPH. Our time has drawn nigh, our days are fulfilled, our time is come.

English Revised Version
They hunt our steps, that we cannot go in our streets: our end is near, our days are fulfilled; for our end is come.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Sade. Oure steppis weren slidir in the weie of oure stretis; oure ende neiyede, oure daies weren fillid, for oure ende cam.

Update Bible Version
They hunt our steps, so that we can't go in our streets: Our end is near, our days are fulfilled; for our end has come.

Webster's Bible Translation
They hunt our steps, that we cannot go in our streets: our end is near, our days are fulfilled; for our end is come.

New English Translation

צ (Tsade)

Our enemies hunted us down at every step so that we could not walk about in our streets. Our end drew near, our days were numbered, for our end had come!

New King James Version
They tracked our steps So that we could not walk in our streets. Our end was near; Our days were over, For our end had come.

New Living Translation
We couldn't go into the streets without danger to our lives. Our end was near; our days were numbered. We were doomed!

New Life Bible
They kept following after our steps so that we could not walk in our streets. Our end came near. Our days were finished, for our end had come.

New Revised Standard
They dogged our steps so that we could not walk in our streets; our end drew near; our days were numbered; for our end had come.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
They have laid snares for our steps, that we cannot walk in our own broadways: Drawn near hath our end, Fulfilled are our days, yea arrived hath our end.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Sade. Our steps have slipped in the way of our streets, our end draweth near: our days are fulfilled, for our end is come.

Revised Standard Version
Men dogged our steps so that we could not walk in our streets; our end drew near; our days were numbered; for our end had come.

Young's Literal Translation
They have hunted our steps from going in our broad-places, Near hath been our end, fulfilled our days, For come hath our end.

THE MESSAGE
They tracked us down, those hunters. It wasn't safe to go out in the street. Our end was near, our days numbered. We were doomed.

Contextual Overview

¹³ Which neuertheles is come to passe for ye synnes of hir prophetes, and for the wickednes of hir prestes, that haue shed innocentes bloude within her. ¹⁴ So that these blynde men wete stomblinge in the stretes, and stayned themselues wt bloude, which els wolde touche no bloudy cloth. ¹⁵ But they cried vnto euery ma: fle the staynynge, awaye, get you hece, touch it not. Yee (sayde they) ye must be brent, ye must dwell amonge the Gentiles, & byde no longer here. ¹⁶ The countenaunce of the LORDE hath banyshed them, & shal neuer loke more vpon them: For they them selues nether regarded the prestes, nor pitied their elders. ¹⁷ Wherfore yet oure eyes fayle vs, whyle we loke for vayne helpe: seynge we be euer waitynge vpon a people, that can do vs no good, ¹⁸ They laye so sharpe waite for vs, that we can not go safe vpon the stretes: for oure ende is come, oure dayes are fulfilled, oure ende is here. ¹⁹ Oure persecuters are swifter then the Aegles of the ayre: they folowed vpon vs ouer the mountaynes, and layed wait for vs in ye wildernesse. ²⁰ The very breth of oure mouth; euen the anoynted LORDE himself shalbe take in oure synnes, of whom we saye: Vnder his shadowe we shal be preserued amonge the Heithen.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

hunt: Lamentations 3:52, 1 Samuel 24:14, 2 Kings 25:4, 2 Kings 25:5, Job 10:16, Psalms 140:11, Jeremiah 16:16, Jeremiah 39:4, Jeremiah 39:5, Jeremiah 52:7-9

our end is near: Jeremiah 1:12, Jeremiah 51:33, Ezekiel 7:2-12, Ezekiel 12:22, Ezekiel 12:23, Ezekiel 12:27, Amos 8:2

Reciprocal: Judges 5:6 - the highways 1 Samuel 24:11 - thou huntest Jeremiah 51:13 - thine Lamentations 1:3 - all Ezekiel 7:25 - and they Micah 7:2 - hunt

Cross-References

Genesis 5:21
Henoch was fyue and thre score yeare olde, and begat Mathusalah:

Genesis 36:2
Esau toke wyues of the doughters of Canaan. Ada the doughter of Elo the Hethite: & Ahalibama the doughter of Ana, the childes childe of Zibeon the Heuyte:

Gill's Notes on the Bible

They hunt our steps, that we cannot go in our streets,.... The Chaldeans, from their forts and batteries, as they could see, they watched the people as they came out of their houses, and walked about the streets, and shot their arrows at them; so that they were obliged to keep within doors, and not stir out, which they could not do without great danger:

our end is near, for our days are fulfilled; for our end is come; either the end of their lives, the days, months, and years appointed for them being fulfilled; or the end of their commonwealth, the end of their civil and church state, at least as they thought; the time appointed for their destruction was not only near at hand, but was actually come; it was all over with them.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

A rapid sketch of the last days of the siege and the capture of the king.

Lamentations 4:17

Rather, “Still do our eyes waste away looking for our vain help.”

In our watching - Or, “on our watchtower.”

Lamentations 4:18

Or, They hunted “our steps that we could not go out into the streets. To hunt” means here to lie in ambush, and catch by snares; and the streets are literally “the wide places,” especially at the gates. Toward the end of the siege the towers erected by the enemy would command these places.

Lamentations 4:19

Our persecutors are ... - Our pursuers (Lamentations 1:3 note) “were swifter thorn the eagles of heaven.”

They pursued us - Or, they chased us.

Mountains ... wilderness - The route in going from Jerusalem to Jericho leads first over heights, beginning with the Mount of Olives, and then descends into the plain of the Ghor.

Lamentations 4:20

The breath of our nostrils - Zedekiah is not set before us as a vicious king, but rather as a man who had not strength enough of character to stem the evil current of his times. And now that the state was fallen he was as the very breath of life to the fugitives, who would have no rallying point without him.

In their pits - The words are metaphorical, suggesting that Zedekiah was hunted like a wild animal, and driven into the pitfall.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 18. We cannot go in our streets — Supposed to refer to the darts and other missiles cast from the mounds which they had raised on the outside of the walls, by which those who walked in the streets were grievously annoyed, and could not shield themselves.