The Meaning of Lamentations 4:8 Explained

Lamentations 4:8

KJV: Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets: their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick.

YLT: Darker than blackness hath been their visage, They have not been known in out-places, Cleaved hath their skin unto their bone, It hath withered -- it hath been as wood.

Darby: Their visage is darker than blackness, they are not known in the streets; their skin cleaveth to their bones, it is withered, it is become like a stick.

ASV: Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets: Their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Their visage  is blacker  than a coal;  they are not known  in the streets:  their skin  cleaveth  to their bones;  it is withered,  it is become like a stick. 

What does Lamentations 4:8 Mean?

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 4:8 mean?

[Now] is blacker than soot their appearance not they go unrecognized in the streets clings their skin to their bones as dry it has become as wood -
חָשַׁ֤ךְ מִשְּׁחוֹר֙ תָּֽאֳרָ֔ם לֹ֥א נִכְּר֖וּ בַּחוּצ֑וֹת צָפַ֤ד עוֹרָם֙ עַל־ עַצְמָ֔ם יָבֵ֖שׁ הָיָ֥ה כָעֵֽץ ס

חָשַׁ֤ךְ  [Now]  is  blacker 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, third person masculine singular
Root: חָשַׁךְ 
Sense: to be or become dark, grow dim, be darkened, be black, be hidden.
מִשְּׁחוֹר֙  than  soot 
Parse: Preposition-m, Noun, masculine singular
Root: שְׁחֹור  
Sense: blackness.
תָּֽאֳרָ֔ם  their  appearance 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct, third person masculine plural
Root: תֹּאַר  
Sense: shape, form, outline, figure, appearance.
נִכְּר֖וּ  they  go  unrecognized 
Parse: Verb, Nifal, Perfect, third person common plural
Root: נָכַר 
Sense: to recognise, acknowledge, know, respect, discern, regard.
בַּחוּצ֑וֹת  in  the  streets 
Parse: Preposition-b, Article, Noun, masculine plural
Root: חוּץ  
Sense: outside, outward, street, the outside.
צָפַ֤ד  clings 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, third person masculine singular
Root: צָפַד  
Sense: to draw together, contract, draw up.
עוֹרָם֙  their  skin 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct, third person masculine plural
Root: עֹור  
Sense: skin, hide.
עַצְמָ֔ם  their  bones 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular construct, third person masculine plural
Root: עֶצֶם 
Sense: bone, essence, substance.
יָבֵ֖שׁ  as  dry 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, third person masculine singular
Root: יָבֵשׁ  
Sense: to make dry, wither, be dry, become dry, be dried up, be withered.
הָיָ֥ה  it  has  become 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, third person masculine singular
Root: אֶהְיֶה 
Sense: to be, become, come to pass, exist, happen, fall out.
כָעֵֽץ  as  wood 
Parse: Preposition-k, Article, Noun, masculine singular
Root: עֵץ  
Sense: tree, wood, timber, stock, plank, stalk, stick, gallows.
ס  - 
Parse: Punctuation