Lectionary Calendar
Thursday, July 10th, 2025
the Week of Proper 9 / Ordinary 14
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Read the Bible

THE MESSAGE

Lamentations 4:14

These prophets and priests blindly grope their way through the streets, grimy and stained from their dirty lives, Wasted by their wasted lives, shuffling from fatigue, dressed in rags.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Minister, Christian;   Thompson Chain Reference - Estrangement;   Fellowship-Estrangement;   Wanderers;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Murder;  

Dictionaries:

- Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Consecrate;   God;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Lamentations, Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Acrostic;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Messiah;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Blind, they stumbled in the streets,defiled by this blood,so that no one daredto touch their garments.
Hebrew Names Version
They wander as blind men in the streets, they are polluted with blood, So that men can't touch their garments.
King James Version
They have wandered as blind men in the streets, they have polluted themselves with blood, so that men could not touch their garments.
English Standard Version
They wandered, blind, through the streets; they were so defiled with blood that no one was able to touch their garments.
New American Standard Bible
They wandered, blind, in the streets; They were defiled with blood, Such that no one could touch their garments.
New Century Version
They wandered in the streets as if they were blind. They were dirty with blood, so no one would touch their clothes.
Amplified Bible
They wandered, blind, in the streets; They were defiled with blood So that no one could touch their garments.
World English Bible
They wander as blind men in the streets, they are polluted with blood, So that men can't touch their garments.
Geneva Bible (1587)
They haue wandred as blinde men in the streetes, and they were polluted with blood, so that they would not touch their garments.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
They wandered, blind, in the streets; They were defiled with blood So that no one could touch their garments.
Legacy Standard Bible
They wandered, blind, in the streets;They were defiled with bloodSo that no one could touch their garments.
Berean Standard Bible
They wandered blind in the streets, defiled by this blood, so that no one dared to touch their garments.
Contemporary English Version
Yes, her prophets and priests were covered with blood; no one would come near them, as they wandered from street to street.
Complete Jewish Bible
They wander in the streets like the blind; they are so polluted with blood that nobody is able even to touch their clothing.
Darby Translation
They wandered about blind in the streets; they were polluted with blood, so that men could not touch their garments.
Easy-to-Read Version
The prophets and priests walked around like blind men in the streets. They had become dirty with blood. No one could even touch their clothes because they were dirty.
George Lamsa Translation
Her princes wander in her streets, they wallow in blood, so that no one could touch their garments.
Good News Translation
Her leaders wandered through the streets as though blind, so stained with blood that no one would touch them.
Lexham English Bible
They wander blindly in the streets; they were defiled with the blood, their clothes could not be touched.
Literal Translation
they reeled blind in the open places. They are defiled with blood, so that not any are able to touch their garments.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
So that these blynde men wete stomblinge in the stretes, and stayned themselues wt bloude, which els wolde touche no bloudy cloth.
American Standard Version
They wander as blind men in the streets, they are polluted with blood, So that men cannot touch their garments.
Bible in Basic English
They are wandering like blind men in the streets, they are made unclean with blood, so that their robes may not be touched by men.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
They wander as blind men in the streets, they are polluted with blood, so that men cannot touch their garments.
King James Version (1611)
They haue wandred as blind men in the streetes, they haue polluted themselues with blood, so that men could not touch their garments.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
As blinde men went, they stumbling in the streetes, and stayned them selues with blood, insomuch that the heathen woulde in no wyse touche their garmentes.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
NUN. her watchmen staggered in the streets, they were defiled with blood in their weakness, they touched their raiment with it.
English Revised Version
They wander as blind men in the streets, that are polluted with blood, so that men cannot touch their garments.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Nun. Blynde men erryden in stretis, thei weren defoulid in blood; and whanne thei miyten not go, thei helden her hemmes.
Update Bible Version
They wander as blind men in the streets, they are polluted with blood, So that men can't touch their garments.
Webster's Bible Translation
They have wandered [as] blind [men] in the streets, they have polluted themselves with blood, so that men could not touch their garments.
New English Translation

נ (Nun)

They wander blindly through the streets, defiled by the blood they shed, while no one dares to touch their garments.
New King James Version
They wandered blind in the streets; They have defiled themselves with blood, So that no one would touch their garments.
New Living Translation
They wandered blindly through the streets, so defiled by blood that no one dared touch them.
New Life Bible
They walked as blind men through the streets. They were made unclean with blood so that no one could touch their clothing.
New Revised Standard
Blindly they wandered through the streets, so defiled with blood that no one was able to touch their garments.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
They have wandered - blind - in the streets, have defiled themselves with blood; so that men may not touch their garments.
Douay-Rheims Bible
Nun. They have wandered as blind men in the streets, they were defiled with blood: and when they could not help walking in it, they held up their skirts.
Revised Standard Version
They wandered, blind, through the streets, so defiled with blood that none could touch their garments.
Young's Literal Translation
They have wandered naked in out-places, They have been polluted with blood, Without [any] being able to touch their clothing,

Contextual Overview

13 Because of the sins of her prophets and the evil of her priests, Who exploited good and trusting people, robbing them of their lives, 14 These prophets and priests blindly grope their way through the streets, grimy and stained from their dirty lives, Wasted by their wasted lives, shuffling from fatigue, dressed in rags. 15 People yell at them, "Get out of here, dirty old men! Get lost, don't touch us, don't infect us!" They have to leave town. They wander off. Nobody wants them to stay here. Everyone knows, wherever they wander, that they've been kicked out of their own hometown. 16 God himself scattered them. No longer does he look out for them. He has nothing to do with the priests; he cares nothing for the elders. 17 We watched and watched, wore our eyes out looking for help. And nothing. We mounted our lookouts and looked for the help that never showed up. 18 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. 19 They came after us faster than eagles in flight, pressed us hard in the mountains, ambushed us in the desert. 20 Our king, our life's breath, the anointed of God , was caught in their traps— Our king under whose protection we always said we'd live.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

have wandered: Deuteronomy 28:28, Deuteronomy 28:29, Isaiah 29:10-12, Isaiah 56:10, Isaiah 59:9-11, Micah 3:6, Micah 3:7, Matthew 15:14, Ephesians 4:18

they have polluted: Numbers 35:33, Isaiah 1:15, Jeremiah 2:34

so that men could not touch: or, in that they could not but touch, Numbers 19:16, Hosea 4:2

Reciprocal: Numbers 19:11 - toucheth the dead Isaiah 43:27 - and thy Isaiah 59:10 - grope Jeremiah 26:8 - the priests Jeremiah 26:19 - Thus Lamentations 3:45 - as Ezekiel 9:9 - and the land Zephaniah 1:17 - they shall Matthew 23:35 - upon Hebrews 11:37 - were slain

Cross-References

Genesis 4:6
God spoke to Cain: "Why this tantrum? Why the sulking? If you do well, won't you be accepted? And if you don't do well, sin is lying in wait for you, ready to pounce; it's out to get you, you've got to master it."
Genesis 4:13
Cain said to God , "My punishment is too much. I can't take it! You've thrown me off the land and I can never again face you. I'm a homeless wanderer on Earth and whoever finds me will kill me."
Genesis 4:15
God told him, "No. Anyone who kills Cain will pay for it seven times over." God put a mark on Cain to protect him so that no one who met him would kill him.
Genesis 4:16
Cain left the presence of God and lived in No-Man's-Land, east of Eden.
Leviticus 26:36
"As for those among you still alive, I'll give them over to fearful timidity—even the rustle of a leaf will throw them into a panic. They'll run here and there, back and forth, as if running for their lives even though no one is after them, tripping and falling over one another in total confusion. You won't stand a chance against an enemy. You'll perish among the nations; the land of your enemies will eat you up. Any who are left will slowly rot away in the enemy lands. Rot. And all because of their sins, their sins compounded by their ancestors' sins.
Numbers 35:19
"In such cases the avenger has a right to kill the murderer when he meets him—he can kill him on the spot.
Psalms 143:7
Hurry with your answer, God ! I'm nearly at the end of my rope. Don't turn away; don't ignore me! That would be certain death. If you wake me each morning with the sound of your loving voice, I'll go to sleep each night trusting in you. Point out the road I must travel; I'm all ears, all eyes before you. Save me from my enemies, God — you're my only hope! Teach me how to live to please you, because you're my God. Lead me by your blessed Spirit into cleared and level pastureland.
Proverbs 14:32
The evil of bad people leaves them out in the cold; the integrity of good people creates a safe place for living.
Proverbs 28:1
The wicked are edgy with guilt, ready to run off even when no one's after them; Honest people are relaxed and confident, bold as lions.
Jeremiah 52:3
The source of all this doom to Jerusalem and Judah was God 's anger. God turned his back on them as an act of judgment. Zedekiah revolted against the king of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar set out for Jerusalem with a full army. He set up camp and sealed off the city by building siege mounds around it. He arrived on the ninth year and tenth month of Zedekiah's reign. The city was under siege for nineteen months (until the eleventh year of Zedekiah).

Gill's Notes on the Bible

They have wandered [as] blind [men] in the streets,.... That is, the false prophets and wicked priests; and may be understood either literally, that when the city was taken, and they fled, they were like blind men, and knew not which way to go to make their escape, but wandered from place to place, and could find no way out; or spiritually, though they pretended to great light and knowledge, yet were as blind men, surrounded with the darkness of ignorance and error, and were blind leaders of the blind:

they have polluted themselves with blood, so that men could not touch their garments; or, "could not but touch it with their garments" c; or, "might not" d; it was not lawful for them to do it: the sense is either, that, which way soever these men took to make their escape, they found so many dead carcasses in the streets, and such a profusion of blood by them, that they could not but touch it with their garments; or being besmeared with it, were so defiled, that others might not touch them, even their garments; or these men had defiled themselves with the shedding of the blood of righteous persons; so that they were odious to men, and they shunned them as they would do anything that by the law rendered them in a ceremonious sense unclean, and therefore said as follows:

c בלא יוכלו יגעו בלבושיהם "quem non possunt, quin tangent vestimentis suis", "Junius & Tremellius. d "Tangebant eum (nempe sanguinem) vestibus eorum quem non potuerunt", i.e. "jure", Gataker.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

They have wandered - God’s ministers, consecrated to His service, wandered through the city blinded by the insatiable lust of slaughter. It was a pollution to touch their garments.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 14. They have wandered as blind men in the streets — Rather, "They ran frantic through the streets, they were stained with blood." This was in their pretended zeal for their cause. Bishop Bonner, who was at the head of those sanguinary executions in England, was accustomed to buffet the poor Protestants, when on their examinations they were too powerful for him in argument: -

"He proved his doctrine orthodox,

By apostolic blows and knocks."


Just as his elder brethren, the false priests and prophets of Jerusalem.


 
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