Lamentations, 4
9. Better to have died by the sword than to have perished in hunger. The famine-stricken people perish, and slowly, wretchedly, pass away.
9. Better to have died by the sword than to have perished in hunger. The famine-stricken people perish, and slowly, wretchedly, pass away.
Lamentations 4 talks about the destruction of Jerusalem and the punishment that the people suffered because of their sins. The chapter also describes the desperate situation of the city's inhabitants, who have gone hungry and suffered other forms of violence. Here are five verses related to the topics covered in lamentations 4:
Psalm 137:7: "Remember, Lord, of the children of Edom, on the day of Jerusalem, who said, I discovered it, I discovered it to its foundations." This psalm is a lamentation of the Jews who were taken captive to Babylon, and he remembers the suffering of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. The cited verse asks God to remember those who contributed to the destruction of the city.
Isaiah 3:8: "Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah has fallen; for his tongue and works are against the Lord to tease the eyes of His glory." This verse describes the fall of Jerusalem and Judah, and attributes the blame to its inhabitants because of their sinful actions.
Ezekiel 5:10: "Therefore, parents will eat their children in the midst of you, and their children will eat their parents; and I will perform in you judgments, and all that remains of you will spread to all the winds." This verse describes the extreme hunger that occurred during the siege of Jerusalem, which led people to resort to cannibalism.
Lamentations 4:9: "Those who were killed to the sword were happier than those who starved to death; because these, exhausted by the effects of hunger, were slowly firing, until they expired, while those, crossed by the sword, died, suddenly." This verse describes the difference between the deaths that occurred during the siege, and states that dying through the sword was preferable to slow and agonizing death because of hunger.
Jeremiah 19:9: "I will make them eat the flesh of their children and the flesh of their daughters, and each will eat the flesh of their neighbor, during the siege and the tightening with which they shall squeeze their enemies, and those who seek them take their lives out. " This verse is a prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem, and states that the people will suffer so much during the siege that will resort to cannibalism to survive.
“Diante de Deus ajoelhe-se sempre.” São Padre Pio de Pietrelcina
