Lamentations Chapter 4 verse 9 Holy Bible
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.
read chapter 4 in ASV
Those who have been put to the sword are better off than those whose death is caused by need of food; for these come to death slowly, burned up like the fruit of the field.
read chapter 4 in BBE
The slain with the sword are happier than the slain with hunger; for these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the field.
read chapter 4 in DARBY
They that be slain with the sword are better than they that be slain with hunger: for these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the field.
read chapter 4 in KJV
read chapter 4 in WBT
Those who are killed with the sword are better than those who are killed with hunger; For these pine away, stricken through, for want of the fruits of the field.
read chapter 4 in WEB
Better have been the pierced of a sword Than the pierced of famine, For these flow away, pierced through, Without the increase of the field.
read chapter 4 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 9.-The miserable condition just now described maintains a sad pre-eminence even when compared with the fate of the slain in battle. And why! For these pine away (literally, melt away)
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(9) For want of . . .--The italics indicate the difficulty of the sentence. Literally the clause stands, from the fruits of the field, and it has been explained by some as referring to those that died in battle, stricken through while yet there were fruits, i.e., not doomed to perish slowly from hunger. The construction of Psalm 109:24, however, "faileth of fatness"--i.e., for want of fatness--gives a sufficient support to the Authorised version.
