The Meaning of Lamentations 4:1 Explained

Lamentations 4:1

KJV: How is the gold become dim! how is the most fine gold changed! the stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of every street.

YLT: How is the gold become dim, Changed the best -- the pure gold? Poured out are stones of the sanctuary At the head of all out-places.

Darby: How is the gold become dim! the most pure gold changed! the stones of the sanctuary poured out at the top of all the streets!

ASV: How is the gold become dim! how is the most pure gold changed! The stones of the sanctuary are poured out at the head of every street.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

How is the gold  become dim!  [how] is the most  fine gold  changed!  the stones  of the sanctuary  are poured out  in the top  of every street. 

What does Lamentations 4:1 Mean?

Verse Meaning

This lament resumes the characteristic "How" introduction (cf. Lamentations 1:1; Lamentations 2:1). The gold and precious stones that had decorated the temple no longer served that function. Jeremiah compared the precious inhabitants of Jerusalem (cf. Exodus 19:5-6) to gold and gems. They now lay in the streets of the city defiled and dead.
"For those who esteemed themselves as high-quality gold, the kind of experience which reduced them to the level of base metal in the opinion of their enemies was of harrowing psychological and spiritual proportions." [1]

Chapter Summary: Lamentations 4

1  Zion bewails her pitiful estate
13  She confesses her sins
21  Edom is threatened and Zion comforted

What do the individual words in Lamentations 4:1 mean?

How has become dim the gold [How] changed the fine gold - are scattered the stones of the sanctuary at the head of every street -
אֵיכָה֙ ! יוּעַ֣ם זָהָ֔ב ! יִשְׁנֶ֖א הַכֶּ֣תֶם הַטּ֑וֹב תִּשְׁתַּפֵּ֙כְנָה֙ אַבְנֵי־ קֹ֔דֶשׁ בְּרֹ֖אשׁ כָּל־ חוּצֽוֹת ס

אֵיכָה֙  How 
Parse: Interjection
Root: אֵיךְ 
Sense: how? interj.
! יוּעַ֣ם  has  become  dim 
Parse: Verb, Hofal, Imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: עָמַם 
Sense: to dim, darken, grow dark.
זָהָ֔ב  the  gold 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: זָהָב  
Sense: gold.
! יִשְׁנֶ֖א  [How]  changed 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: שָׁנָא 
Sense: to change, alter.
הַכֶּ֣תֶם  the  fine  gold 
Parse: Article, Noun, masculine singular
Root: כֶּתֶם  
Sense: gold, pure gold.
הַטּ֑וֹב  - 
Parse: Article, Adjective, masculine singular
Root: טָבַב 
Sense: good, pleasant, agreeable.
תִּשְׁתַּפֵּ֙כְנָה֙  are  scattered 
Parse: Verb, Hitpael, Imperfect, third person feminine plural
Root: שֶׂפֶק 
Sense: to pour, pour out, spill.
אַבְנֵי־  the  stones 
Parse: Noun, feminine plural construct
Root: אֶבֶן  
Sense: stone (large or small).
קֹ֔דֶשׁ  of  the  sanctuary 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: קֹדֶשׁ  
Sense: apartness, holiness, sacredness, separateness.
בְּרֹ֖אשׁ  at  the  head 
Parse: Preposition-b, Noun, masculine singular construct
Root: רֹאשׁ 
Sense: head, top, summit, upper part, chief, total, sum, height, front, beginning.
כָּל־  of  every 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct
Root: כֹּל  
Sense: all, the whole.
חוּצֽוֹת  street 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural
Root: חוּץ  
Sense: outside, outward, street, the outside.
ס  - 
Parse: Punctuation