ה (He) Those who once feasted on delicacies ¹  are now starving to death ²  in the streets. Those who grew up ³  wearing expensive clothes ⁴  are now dying ⁵  amid garbage. ⁶ 

biblegateway Lam 4:5

Those who ate delicacies Are desolate in the streets; Those reared in purple Embrace ash pits.

Those who used to eat delicacies are destitute in the streets; those who were reared in purple garments huddle in garbage heaps.

Those who used to eat delicacies are now destitute in the streets. Those who used to wear expensive clothes now pick through piles of garbage.

biblegateway Lam 4:5

Those who once ate delicacies are destitute in the streets. Those nurtured in purple now lie on ash heaps.

Those who once feasted on delicacies perish in the streets; those who were brought up in purple embrace ash heaps.

bibleoremus Lam 4:5

Those who feasted on delicacies perish in the streets; those who were brought up in purple cling to ash heaps.

Those who once fed delicately are desolate in the streets; those brought up in purple garments now grovel on refuse heaps.

biblegateway Lam 4:5

Those who ate delicacies Are desolate in the streets; Those who were brought up in scarlet Embrace ash heaps.

They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets: they that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.

biblegateway Lam 4:5

ה (He) Those who once feasted on delicacies ¹  are now starving to death ²  in the streets. Those who grew up ³  wearing expensive clothes ⁴  are now dying ⁵  amid garbage. ⁶ 

¹ tn Heb “eaters of delicacies.” An alternate English gloss would be “connoisseurs of fine foods.”

² tn Heb “are desolate.”

³ tn Heb “were reared.”

⁴ tn Heb “in purple.” The term תוֹלָע (tola’, “purple”) is a figurative description of expensive clothing: it is a metonymy of association: the color of the dyed clothes (= purple) stands for the clothes themselves.

⁵ tn Heb “embrace garbage.” One may also translate “rummage through” (cf. NCV “pick through trash piles”; TEV “pawing through refuse”; NLT “search the garbage pits.”

⁶ tn The Hebrew word אַשְׁפַּתּוֹת (’ashpatot) can also mean “ash heaps.” Though not used as a combination elsewhere, to “embrace ash heaps” might also envision a state of mourning or even dead bodies lying on the ash heaps.