Lamentations 4 (WEB)

God

Also called
LORD, Lord, Father, hosts, Almighty, Holy, GOD, Saviour, last, JEHOVAH, Judge, father, lawgiver, Fathers, dayspring, host, Ancient
Gender
Male
Appears in
Children AdamEve

Yahweh, the Personal Name of God

Word Study | Israel Loken • Hershel Wayne House
יְהֹוָה Yᵉhôvâh ·Strong's H3068

Strictly speaking, the only personal name of God belonging to Him alone, and the most significant name of God found in the Old Testament (over 5000 times).  Yahweh is the approximate (and likely) pronunciation of the tetragrammaton, the four-letter word YHWH.  When Moses asked what His name was to take back to the Hebrews in Egypt, God replied, “I AM THAT I AM (אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה אֲשֶׁ֣ר אֶֽהְיֶ֑ה ehyeh esher ehyeh): and he said, Thus shall you say to the children of Israel, I AM (אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה, ehyeh, 1st person singular, giving God's declaration of His name) has sent me to you” (Exod 3:14).  Thus God revealed to Moses the very essential meaning of His name as Yahweh (יְהוָ֞ה, Yahweh, 3rd person singular, the response of the people of God, He is).  There is a strong indication that Jesus (or Yeshua, Yahweh is salvation) used this name and its divine implication to apply to himself when he said, “Before Abraham was, I AM” (ἐγὼ εἰμί, egō eimi) (John 8:58).  Thus, the very Person who spoke to Moses out of the burning bush was the very same Person who addressed the startled Jews in the Gospel of John.

For a more complete discussion of the personal name of God, see the passage in Exodus in which He reveals His name to Moses, Exodus 3:14, 15.

A Name of God (אֱלֹהִים; 'elohim)

Word Study | Hershel Wayne House
אֱלֹהִים ʼĕlôhîym ·Strong's H430

This is a generic name for the divine being. In the Hebrew Bible, the word is regularly used in the plural in reference to the God of Israel but in regard to His majesty or intensity. The plural has a third person singular with the God of Israel, but a third plural with foreign deities.

Abba, Father

Word Study | Hershel Wayne House • Steve Stanley
Ἀββᾶ Abbâ ·Strong's G5

This Aramaic term is used only three times in the NT and approximately 80 times in the writings of the early church fathers when quoting or paraphrasing Jesus’ words. It is translated by the very next word in this verse as ὁ πατήρ (ho pater) “the Father,” as it is in all three NT uses. Jesus spoke in Aramaic, and Hebrew, both languages being used in Israel. In Jesus’ day, abba was used for the father in the family, and was a customary title for God in prayer among the Jews. It was eventually taken over by Greek-speaking Christians as a liturgical formula. Some posit that abba is equivalent to “daddy,” an American English term for “father.” This assumes that the American informality expressed by children toward their father would have an analogy in Jesus’ culture, an assumption difficult to sustain. It is, therefore, not appropriate to refer to God as “daddy.” Linguistically, then, abba means "father" in Hebrew, Greek and English. It must be noted, however, that while “father” is a term of respect in biblical literature, it is also a term of affection, very deep and abiding affection. With His use of “Abba,” Jesus expresses His respectful and intimate relationship with His Heavenly Father in prayer, a wonderful example for all believers.

Person & place data: Theographic Bible Metadata by Robert Rouse (Viz.Bible), CC BY-SA 4.0.
Lamentations 4 (WEB)

1How the gold has become dim!

The most pure gold has changed!

The stones of the sanctuary are poured out

at the head of every street.

2The precious sons of Zion,

comparable to fine gold,

how they are esteemed as earthen pitchers,

the work of the hands of the potter!

3Even the jackals offer their breast.

They nurse their young ones.

But the daughter of my people has become cruel,

like the ostriches in the wilderness.

4The tongue of the nursing child clings to the roof of his mouth for thirst.

The young children ask for bread,

and no one breaks it for them.

5Those who ate delicacies are desolate in the streets.

Those who were brought up in purple embrace dunghills.

6For the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the sin of Sodom,

which was overthrown as in a moment.

No hands were laid on her.

7Her nobles were purer than snow.

They were whiter than milk.

They were more ruddy in body than rubies.

Their polishing was like sapphire.

8Their appearance is blacker than a coal.

They are not known in the streets.

Their skin clings to their bones.

It is withered.

It has become like wood.

9Those who are killed with the sword are better than those who are killed with hunger;

for these pine away, stricken through,

for lack of the fruits of the field.

10The hands of the pitiful women have boiled their own children.

They were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

11Yahweh has accomplished his wrath.

He has poured out his fierce anger.

He has kindled a fire in Zion,

which has devoured its foundations.

12The kings of the earth didn’t believe,

neither did all the inhabitants of the world,

that the adversary and the enemy would enter into the gates of Jerusalem.

13It is because of the sins of her prophets

and the iniquities of her priests,

that have shed the blood of the just in the middle of her.

14They wander as blind men in the streets.

They are polluted with blood,

So that men can’t touch their garments.

15“Go away!” they cried to them.

“Unclean! Go away! Go away! Don’t touch!

When they fled away and wandered, men said among the nations,

“They can’t live here any more.”

16Yahweh’s anger has scattered them.

He will not pay attention to them any more.

They didn’t respect the persons of the priests.

They didn’t favor the elders.

17Our eyes still fail,

looking in vain for our help.

In our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save.

18They 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.

19Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the sky.

They chased us on the mountains.

They set an ambush for us in the wilderness.

20The breath of our nostrils,

the anointed of Yahweh,

was taken in their pits;

of whom we said,

under his shadow we will live among the nations.

21Rejoice and be glad, daughter of Edom,

who dwells in the land of Uz.

The cup will pass through to you also.

You will be drunken,

and will make yourself naked.

22The punishment of your iniquity is accomplished, daughter of Zion.

He will no more carry you away into captivity.

He will visit your iniquity, daughter of Edom.

He will uncover your sins.

God