Lamentations 5:10
New International Version
Our skin is hot as an oven, feverish from hunger.

New Living Translation
The famine has blackened our skin as though baked in an oven.

English Standard Version
Our skin is hot as an oven with the burning heat of famine.

Berean Standard Bible
Our skin is as hot as an oven with fever from our hunger.

King James Bible
Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine.

New King James Version
Our skin is hot as an oven, Because of the fever of famine.

New American Standard Bible
Our skin has become as hot as an oven, Because of the ravages of hunger.

NASB 1995
Our skin has become as hot as an oven, Because of the burning heat of famine.

NASB 1977
Our skin has become as hot as an oven, Because of the burning heat of famine.

Legacy Standard Bible
Our skin has become as hot as an oven Because of the burning heat of famine.

Amplified Bible
Our skin is as hot as [the heat of] an oven Because of the burning heat of [the fever of] famine.

Christian Standard Bible
Our skin is as hot as an oven from the ravages of hunger.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Our skin is as hot as an oven from the ravages of hunger.

American Standard Version
Our skin is black like an oven, Because of the burning heat of famine.

Contemporary English Version
Our skin is scorched from fever and hunger.

English Revised Version
Our skin is black like an oven because of the burning heat of famine.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Our skin is as hot as an oven from the burning heat of starvation.

Good News Translation
Hunger has made us burn with fever until our skin is as hot as an oven.

International Standard Version
Our skin blisters as from an oven, due to ravaging blasts of the famine.

Majority Standard Bible
Our skin is as hot as an oven with fever from our hunger.

NET Bible
Our skin is hot as an oven due to a fever from hunger.

New Heart English Bible
Our skin is hot like an oven, because of the burning heat of famine.

Webster's Bible Translation
Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine.

World English Bible
Our skin is black like an oven, because of the burning heat of famine.
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
Our skin as an oven has been burning, "" Because of the raging of the famine.

Young's Literal Translation
Our skin as an oven hath been burning, Because of the raging of the famine.

Smith's Literal Translation
Our skin was scorched as a furnace from the face of the violent heat of famine.
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
Our skin was burnt as an oven, by reason of the violence of the famine.

Catholic Public Domain Version
Our skin was burned, as if by an oven, before the face of the tempest of the famine.

New American Bible
Our skin heats up like an oven, from the searing blasts of famine.

New Revised Standard Version
Our skin is black as an oven from the scorching heat of famine.
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
Our skin has shriveled as though burned in an oven because of the suffering of famine.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
Our skins were burned as by a furnace and they became pale in the wretchedness of famine
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
Our skin is hot like an oven Because of the burning heat of famine.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Our skin is blackened like an oven; they are convulsed, because of the storms of famine.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
A Prayer for Restoration
9We get our bread at the risk of our lives because of the sword in the wilderness. 10Our skin is as hot as an oven with fever from our hunger. 11Women have been ravished in Zion, virgins in the cities of Judah.…

Cross References
Job 30:30
My skin grows black and peels, and my bones burn with fever.

Psalm 119:83
Though I am like a wineskin dried up by smoke, I do not forget Your statutes.

Jeremiah 14:2
“Judah mourns and her gates languish. Her people wail for the land, and a cry goes up from Jerusalem.

Jeremiah 8:21
For the brokenness of the daughter of my people I am crushed. I mourn; horror has gripped me.

Isaiah 24:6
Therefore a curse has consumed the earth, and its inhabitants must bear the guilt; the earth’s dwellers have been burned, and only a few survive.

Deuteronomy 28:22
The LORD will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, and with blight and mildew; these will pursue you until you perish.

Joel 1:19-20
To You, O LORD, I call, for fire has consumed the open pastures and flames have scorched all the trees of the field. / Even the beasts of the field pant for You, for the streams of water have dried up, and fire has consumed the open pastures.

Ezekiel 24:23
Your turbans will remain on your heads and your sandals on your feet. You will not mourn or weep, but you will waste away because of your sins, and you will groan among yourselves.

Isaiah 42:25
So He poured out on them His furious anger and the fierceness of battle. It enveloped them in flames, but they did not understand; it consumed them, but they did not take it to heart.

Isaiah 3:24
Instead of fragrance there will be a stench; instead of a belt, a rope; instead of styled hair, baldness; instead of fine clothing, sackcloth; instead of beauty, shame.

Revelation 16:8-9
Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was given power to scorch the people with fire. / And the people were scorched by intense heat, and they cursed the name of God, who had authority over these plagues. Yet they did not repent and give Him glory.

Matthew 24:7
Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.

Luke 21:11
There will be great earthquakes, famines, and pestilences in various places, along with fearful sights and great signs from heaven.

Mark 13:8
Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, as well as famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.

Revelation 6:8
Then I looked and saw a pale green horse. Its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed close behind. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill by sword, by famine, by plague, and by the beasts of the earth.


Treasury of Scripture

Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine.

skin

Lamentations 3:4
My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones.

Lamentations 4:8
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.

Job 30:30
My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.

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Lamentations 5
1. A complaint of Zion in prayer unto God.














Our skin
The Hebrew word for "skin" is "עוֹר" (or), which refers to the outer covering of the body. In the context of Lamentations, the physical condition of the people reflects their dire circumstances. The skin, often a symbol of health and vitality, here becomes a testament to suffering and distress. This imagery underscores the severity of the famine, as the very bodies of the people bear witness to their plight. In a broader biblical context, skin can also symbolize vulnerability and exposure, reminding us of the fragility of human life without divine sustenance.

is as hot as an oven
The comparison to an "oven" (תַּנּוּר, tannur in Hebrew) evokes the intense and consuming nature of the suffering experienced. Ovens in ancient times were used for baking and required significant heat, symbolizing the extreme conditions faced by the people. This metaphor not only conveys physical discomfort but also suggests a refining process, where intense heat is necessary to purify and transform. Spiritually, this can be seen as a call to endure trials with faith, trusting that God can bring about growth and renewal through suffering.

because of the burning heat of famine
The "burning heat" (לַהַב, lahab) of "famine" (רָעָב, raav) paints a vivid picture of the desperation and life-threatening conditions faced by the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Famine in the Bible often signifies divine judgment or a call to repentance, as seen in various Old Testament narratives. Historically, famine was a common consequence of siege warfare, which the city of Jerusalem experienced during the Babylonian conquest. This phrase serves as a reminder of the consequences of turning away from God, yet it also offers hope that through repentance and reliance on God, restoration is possible. The burning heat, while destructive, can also be a purifying force, urging the faithful to seek God's mercy and provision.

(10) Our skin was black . . .-Better, fiery red, and for "terrible famine," the fever-blast of famine. The words paint the hot fever of hunger rather than the livid paleness of exhaustion.

Verse 10. - Was black like an oven. The translation is misleading; there is no real parallel to Lamentations 4:8. Render, gloweth. It is the feverish glow produced by gnawing hunger which is meant. The terrible famine; rather, the burning heat of hunger. Hariri, the humoristic author of the cycle of stories in rhymed Arabic prose and verse, called 'Makamat,' puts into the mouth of his ne'er do well Abu Seid very similar words to describe a famished man -

"Dess Eingeweide brennend nach Erquickung sehrein,
Der nichts gegessen seit zwei Tagen oder drein."


(Ruckert's adaptation, third Makama.)

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Our skin
עוֹרֵ֙נוּ֙ (‘ō·w·rê·nū)
Noun - masculine singular construct | first person common plural
Strong's 5785: Skin, hide, leather

is as hot
נִכְמָ֔רוּ (niḵ·mā·rū)
Verb - Nifal - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 3648: To intertwine, contract, to shrivel, to be deeply affected with passion

as an oven
כְּתַנּ֣וּר (kə·ṯan·nūr)
Preposition-k | Noun - common singular
Strong's 8574: (portable) stove, firepot

because of
מִפְּנֵ֖י (mip·pə·nê)
Preposition-m | Noun - common plural construct
Strong's 6440: The face

the burning
זַלְעֲפ֥וֹת (zal·‘ă·p̄ō·wṯ)
Noun - feminine plural construct
Strong's 2152: A glow, a famine

of famine.
רָעָֽב׃ (rā·‘āḇ)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 7458: Famine, hunger


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OT Prophets: Lamentations 5:10 Our skin is black like an oven (Lam. La Lm)
Lamentations 5:9
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