Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Lamentations 4:21 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 21. 21Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Uz; the cup also shall pass through unto thee: thou shalt be drunken, and shalt make thyself naked.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse addresses Daughter Edom with ironic joy before announcing a cup, intoxication, and exposure.
Read It With
- Lamentations 4:21-22
Read Lamentations 4:21 with 4:21-22. This verse addresses Daughter Edom with ironic joy before announcing a cup, intoxication, and exposure. The complete unit establishes this movement: The poet taunts Daughter Edom with the cup and exposed shame she too will face, while announcing a limit to Zion's punishment and a coming reckoning for Edom's wrong.
Why This Verse Appears Here
The poem ends with a limited word of relief for Zion and judgment for an onlooking enemy, but chapter 5 immediately returns to dispossession and unresolved prayer. Within that movement, this verse addresses Daughter Edom with ironic joy before announcing a cup, intoxication, and exposure.
Follow the Context
- Daughter Edom is addressed through bitterly ironic rejoicing.
- The cup passes to her with drunken exposure.
- Zion is told her punishment has reached a limit and exile will not continue in the same way.
- Edom's iniquity is visited and exposed.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“Rejoice and be glad”
In plain language: This verse addresses Daughter Edom with ironic joy before announcing a cup, intoxication, and exposure.
Enemy accountability cannot become ethnic hatred or bodily humiliation.
Why it matters: The wording carries textual, theological, ethical, or pastoral risk requiring its complete unit and stated limits.
How certain? probableWhat This Verse Is Not Saying
This verse does not rename a modern people Edom or authorize intoxication, stripping, sexual humiliation, or revenge.
What Remains True
Enemy accountability cannot become ethnic hatred or bodily humiliation.
How It Can Shape Life
- Locate Edom historically and reject modern mapping.
Teach It Back
Explain Lamentations 4:21's contribution to Lamentations 4:21-22: addresses Daughter Edom with ironic joy before announcing a cup, intoxication, and exposure. Include the surrounding alphabet stanza, the stated uncertainty, and what this verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Lamentations 4:21-22 — Edom's Cup and Zion's Announced LimitSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
Edom's exact historical conduct and the exposure image's scope remain debated.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
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 4:21-22, 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.4.21-Lam.4.22
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 4:21-22
Open source ↗