Lamentations 4:13-16, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Lamentations 4:13-16
Leadership Bloodguilt, Pollution, and Expulsion
Because of the blood of the righteous
For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her. They have wandered as blind men in the streets, they have polluted themselves with blood, so that men could not touch their garments.
The because-clause targets leaders implicated in bloodshed, not every priest, prophet, elder, or refugee. Blind men is a simile for disoriented wandering; it must not stigmatize blind persons. Blood pollution is ritual language for lethal injustice.
Office cannot buy a place among the nations
They cried unto them, Depart ye; it is unclean; depart, depart, touch not: when they fled away and wandered, they said among the heathen, They shall no more sojourn there. The anger of the LORD hath divided them; he will no more regard them: they respected not the persons of the priests, they favoured not the elders.
Pronouns in verses 15-16 are debated: leaders, people, or both. Verse 13 remains clear. Sacred status does not cancel responsibility, and leader accountability does not authorize mob violence, purity shaming, or denial of due process.
How this should shape us
Investigate serious allegations against religious leaders with fair independent process. Remove unsafe authority, protect those harmed, and avoid collective stigma toward an office, a disability, or displaced people.
Teach it back
Explain Lamentations 4:13-16 in your own words. Include its poetic movement, one material uncertainty, one vulnerable person or group centered by the text, and one misuse the context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: Pronoun referents and whether the expelled group is leaders, people generally, or both remain disputed. Verse 13 clearly indicts prophets and priests for bloodshed.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact displayed Scripture, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and canonical verse coverage.
Lamentations 4:13-16, repository-pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, alphabet sequence, person and number, repeated vocabulary, and translation questions.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Lam.xml, OSIS Lam.4.13-Lam.4.16
Supports: Verse-level Hebrew, syntax, textual, acrostic, literary, historical, and translation notes.
NET Bible Lamentations PDF, printed pp. 1571-1575, translation and notes on 4:13-16
Supports: Five-poem form, historical horizon, voice, judgment, Daughter Zion, chapter 3, famine, hope alternatives, and the unresolved ending.
Joyce, 'Lamentations,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 532, discussion of poem 4 and 4:13-16
Supports: Trauma-informed analysis of voice, embodiment, humiliation, divine and human agency, children, famine, resistance, memory, and fragile hope.
Yansen, Daughter Zion's Trauma, printed pp. 154-201 and 203-245 on trauma poetics, Daughter Zion, famine, children, judgment, protest, and resistance; applied to 4:13-16
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed Scripture, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and canonical verse coverage.
Exact location: Lamentations 4:13-16, repository-pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Lamentations
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, alphabet sequence, person and number, repeated vocabulary, and translation questions.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Lam.xml, OSIS Lam.4.13-Lam.4.16
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Lamentations with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level Hebrew, syntax, textual, acrostic, literary, historical, and translation notes.
Exact location: NET Bible Lamentations PDF, printed pp. 1571-1575, translation and notes on 4:13-16
Open source ↗modern critical commentary
Lamentations
Paul M. Joyce
Oxford University Press, in The Oxford Bible Commentary, 2001
Supports: Five-poem form, historical horizon, voice, judgment, Daughter Zion, chapter 3, famine, hope alternatives, and the unresolved ending.
Exact location: Joyce, 'Lamentations,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 532, discussion of poem 4 and 4:13-16
Open source ↗doctoral dissertation and trauma reading
Daughter Zion's Trauma: Reading Lamentations with Insights from Trauma Studies
James Washington Sydgrave Yansen, Jr.
Boston University School of Theology / OpenBU, 2016
Supports: Trauma-informed analysis of voice, embodiment, humiliation, divine and human agency, children, famine, resistance, memory, and fragile hope.
Exact location: Yansen, Daughter Zion's Trauma, printed pp. 154-201 and 203-245 on trauma poetics, Daughter Zion, famine, children, judgment, protest, and resistance; applied to 4:13-16
Open source ↗