Jeremiah 4:30
New International Version
What are you doing, you devastated one? Why dress yourself in scarlet and put on jewels of gold? Why highlight your eyes with makeup? You adorn yourself in vain. Your lovers despise you; they want to kill you.

New Living Translation
What are you doing, you who have been plundered? Why do you dress up in beautiful clothing and put on gold jewelry? Why do you brighten your eyes with mascara? Your primping will do you no good! The allies who were your lovers despise you and seek to kill you.

English Standard Version
And you, O desolate one, what do you mean that you dress in scarlet, that you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold, that you enlarge your eyes with paint? In vain you beautify yourself. Your lovers despise you; they seek your life.

Berean Standard Bible
And you, O devastated one, what will you do, though you dress yourself in scarlet, though you adorn yourself with gold jewelry, though you enlarge your eyes with paint? You adorn yourself in vain; your lovers despise you; they want to take your life.

King James Bible
And when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; thy lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life.

New King James Version
“And when you are plundered, What will you do? Though you clothe yourself with crimson, Though you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold, Though you enlarge your eyes with paint, In vain you will make yourself fair; Your lovers will despise you; They will seek your life.

New American Standard Bible
And you, desolate one, what will you do? Although you dress in scarlet, Although you adorn yourself with jewelry of gold, Although you enlarge your eyes with makeup, In vain you make yourself beautiful. Your lovers despise you; They seek your life.

NASB 1995
And you, O desolate one, what will you do? Although you dress in scarlet, Although you decorate yourself with ornaments of gold, Although you enlarge your eyes with paint, In vain you make yourself beautiful. Your lovers despise you; They seek your life.

NASB 1977
And you, O desolate one, what will you do? Although you dress in scarlet, Although you decorate yourself with ornaments of gold, Although you enlarge your eyes with paint, In vain you make yourself beautiful; Your lovers despise you; They seek your life.

Legacy Standard Bible
And you, O devastated one, what will you do? Although you dress in scarlet, Although you decorate yourself with ornaments of gold, Although you enlarge your eyes with paint, In vain you make yourself beautiful. Your lovers despise you; They seek your life.

Amplified Bible
And you, O desolate one, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself in scarlet, Though you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold, Though you enlarge your eyes with paint, You make yourself beautiful in vain. Your lovers (allies) despise you; They seek your life.

Christian Standard Bible
And you, devastated one, what are you doing that you dress yourself in scarlet, that you adorn yourself with gold jewelry, that you enhance your eyes with makeup? You beautify yourself for nothing. Your lovers reject you; they intend to take your life.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
And you, devastated one, what are you doing that you dress yourself in scarlet, that you adorn yourself with gold jewelry, that you enlarge your eyes with paint? You beautify yourself for nothing. Your lovers reject you; they want to take your life.

American Standard Version
And thou, when thou art made desolate, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with scarlet, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou enlargest thine eyes with paint, in vain dost thou make thyself fair; thy lovers despise thee, they seek thy life.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And you are plundered. What will you do when you will wear scarlet, when you will adorn yourself in ornaments of gold, when you paint your eyes with antimony? You are decorated for nothing; your intimates have left you and they seek your life

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And what wilt thou do? Though thou clothe thyself with scarlet, and adorn thyself with golden ornaments; though thou adorn thine eyes with stibium, thy beauty will be in vain: thy lovers have rejected thee, they seek thy life.

Contemporary English Version
Jerusalem, your land has been wiped out. But you act like a prostitute and try to win back your lovers, who now hate you. You can put on a red dress, gold jewelry, and eye shadow, but it's no use--your lovers are out to kill you!

Douay-Rheims Bible
But when thou art spoiled what wilt thou do? though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, and paintest thy eyes with stibic stone, thou shalt dress thyself out in vain: thy lovers have despised thee, they will seek thy life.

English Revised Version
And thou, when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with scarlet, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou enlargest thine eyes with paint, in vain dost thou make thyself fair; thy lovers despise thee, they seek thy life.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
You are going to be destroyed! What are you going to do? Why do you dress in red and put on gold jewelry? Why do you wear eye shadow? You are making yourself beautiful for nothing. Your lovers reject you; they want to kill you.

Good News Translation
Jerusalem, you are doomed! Why do you dress in scarlet? Why do you put on jewelry and paint your eyes? You are making yourself beautiful for nothing! Your lovers have rejected you and want to kill you.

International Standard Version
You are ruined! What are you doing dressing in scarlet, putting on golden ornaments, and highlighting your eyes with makeup? You are making yourself beautiful in vain. Your lovers reject you— they're out to kill you.

JPS Tanakh 1917
And thou, that art spoiled, what doest thou, That thou clothest thyself with scarlet, That thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, That thou enlargest thine eyes with paint? In vain dost thou make thyself fair; Thy lovers despise thee, they seek thy life.

Literal Standard Version
And you, O spoiled one, what do you do? For you put on scarlet, | For you adorn yourself [with] ornaments of gold. For you tear your eyes with pain, | In vain you make yourself beautiful, | Unhealthy ones have kicked against you, | They seek your life.

Majority Standard Bible
And you, O devastated one, what will you do, though you dress yourself in scarlet, though you adorn yourself with gold jewelry, though you enlarge your eyes with paint? You adorn yourself in vain; your lovers despise you; they want to take your life.

New American Bible
You now who are doomed, what are you doing dressing in purple, bedecking yourself with gold, Enlarging your eyes with kohl? You beautify yourself in vain! Your lovers reject you, they seek your life.

NET Bible
And you, Zion, city doomed to destruction, you accomplish nothing by wearing a beautiful dress, decking yourself out in jewels of gold, and putting on eye shadow! You are making yourself beautiful for nothing. Your lovers spurn you. They want to kill you.

New Revised Standard Version
And you, O desolate one, what do you mean that you dress in crimson, that you deck yourself with ornaments of gold, that you enlarge your eyes with paint? In vain you beautify yourself. Your lovers despise you; they seek your life.

New Heart English Bible
You, when you are made desolate, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself with scarlet, though you dress yourselves with ornaments of gold, though you enlarge your eyes with paint, in vain do you make yourself beautiful; your lovers despise you, they seek your life.

Webster's Bible Translation
And when thou art laid waste, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rendest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair: thy lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life.

World English Bible
You, when you are made desolate, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself with scarlet, though you deck yourself with ornaments of gold, though you enlarge your eyes with makeup, you make yourself beautiful in vain. Your lovers despise you. They seek your life.

Young's Literal Translation
And thou, O spoiled one, what dost thou? For thou puttest on scarlet, For thou adornest thyself with ornaments of gold. For thou rendest with pain thine eyes, In vain thou dost make thyself fair, Kicked against thee have doting ones, Thy life they do seek.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Lamentation for Judah
29Every city flees at the sound of the horseman and archer. They enter the thickets and climb among the rocks. Every city is abandoned; no inhabitant is left. 30And you, O devastated one, what will you do, though you dress yourself in scarlet, though you adorn yourself with gold jewelry, though you enlarge your eyes with paint? You adorn yourself in vain; your lovers despise you; they want to take your life. 31For I hear a cry like a woman in labor, a cry of anguish like one bearing her first child—the cry of the Daughter of Zion gasping for breath, stretching out her hands to say, “Woe is me, for my soul faints before the murderers!”…

Cross References
2 Kings 9:30
Now when Jehu arrived in Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it. So she painted her eyes, adorned her head, and looked down from a window.

Proverbs 6:25
Do not lust in your heart for her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes.

Isaiah 10:3
What will you do on the day of reckoning when devastation comes from afar? To whom will you flee for help? Where will you leave your wealth?

Isaiah 20:6
And on that day the dwellers of this coastland will say, 'See what has happened to our source of hope, those to whom we fled for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria! How then can we escape?'"

Jeremiah 13:21
What will you say when He sets over you close allies whom you yourself trained? Will not pangs of anguish grip you, as they do a woman in labor?

Jeremiah 22:20
Go up to Lebanon and cry out; raise your voice in Bashan; cry out from Abarim, for all your lovers have been crushed.

Jeremiah 22:22
The wind will drive away all your shepherds, and your lovers will go into captivity. Then you will be ashamed and humiliated because of all your wickedness.


Treasury of Scripture

And when you are spoiled, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself with crimson, though you deck you with ornaments of gold, though you rend your face with painting, in vain shall you make yourself fair; your lovers will despise you, they will seek your life.

And when.

Jeremiah 5:31
The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?

Jeremiah 13:21
What wilt thou say when he shall punish thee? for thou hast taught them to be captains, and as chief over thee: shall not sorrows take thee, as a woman in travail?

Isaiah 10:3
And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far? to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory?

though.

Ezekiel 23:40,41
And furthermore, that ye have sent for men to come from far, unto whom a messenger was sent; and, lo, they came: for whom thou didst wash thyself, paintedst thy eyes, and deckedst thyself with ornaments, …

Ezekiel 28:9,13
Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou shalt be a man, and no God, in the hand of him that slayeth thee…

Revelation 17:4
And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:

face.

2 Kings 9:30
And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her face, and tired her head, and looked out at a window.

in vain.

Jeremiah 22:20-22
Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up thy voice in Bashan, and cry from the passages: for all thy lovers are destroyed…

Lamentations 1:2,19
She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks: among all her lovers she hath none to comfort her: all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies…

Lamentations 4:17
As for us, our eyes as yet failed for our vain help: in our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save us.

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Although Beautiful Clothe Crimson Deck Desolate Despise Dress Enlarge Eyes Face Fair Gold Lovers Ornaments Paint Painting Scarlet Seek Spoiled Thyself Vain Waste Wilt
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Jeremiah 4
1. God calls Israel by his promise
3. He exhorts Judah to repentance by fearful judgments
19. A grievous lamentation for Judah














(30) And when thou art spoiled . . .--The sentence is clearer without the insertion of the words in italics: Thou spoiled one, what dost thou work, that thou clothest . . . that thou deckest . . . that thou rentest . . .? In vain dost thou beautify thyself. The "clothing with crimson "and "ornaments of gold" are, as before noticed (Note on Jeremiah 4:13), an echo from 2Samuel 1:24. The "rending the face" is, literally, enlarging the eyes with kohl, or antimony, still used for this purpose in the east, the black powder being laid on horizontally with a small stylus, or pencil, drawn between the eyelashes. The daughter of Zion is represented as a woman who puts on her costliest attire, as Jezebel had done (2Kings 9:30), in the vain hope of fascinating her lovers. The imagery points to the foreign alliances in which the statesmen and people of Jerusalem were trusting, and they are told that they shall be in vain. The lovers, i.e., the allies, shall become her foes.

Verse 30. - And when thou art spoiled, etc. It is Jerusalem who is addressed - Jerusalem, personified as a woman, who decks herself out finely to please her admirers. All these arts are in vain, for a violent repulsion has converted her lovers into her deadly enemies. And when Jerusalem is "spoiled," or taken by storm, what device will there be left to attempt? The "lovers" are the foreign powers to whom the Jews paid court (Jeremiah 2:18, 36, 87). Though thou rentest thy face, etc; alluding to the custom of Eastern women, who try to make their eyes seem larger by putting powdered antimony (the Arabic kohl) upon their eyelids. So, for instance, did Jezebel (see 2 Kings 11:30); and one of Job's daughters received the name Keren-happuch, "box of antimony," i.e. one who sets off the company in which she is, as antimony does the eye. An old author, Dr. Shaw, writes thus: "None of these ladies take themselves to be completely dressed till they have tinged the hair and edges of their eyelids with the powder of lead ore. And as this operation is performed by dipping first into this powder a small wooden bodkin of the thickness of a quill, and then drawing it afterwards through the eyelids over the ball of the eye, we have a lively image of what the prophet (Jeremiah 4:30) may be supposed to mean" (Shaw, 'Travels in Barbary and the Levant,' 2nd edit., p. 229).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
And you,
וְאַ֨תְּ (wə·’at)
Conjunctive waw | Pronoun - second person feminine singular
Strong's 859: Thou and thee, ye and you

O devastated
שָׁד֜וּד (šā·ḏūḏ)
Verb - Qal - QalPassParticiple - masculine singular
Strong's 7703: To deal violently with, despoil, devastate, ruin

one,
מַֽה־ (mah-)
Interrogative
Strong's 4100: What?, what!, indefinitely what

what will you do,
תַּעֲשִׂ֗י (ta·‘ă·śî)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - second person feminine singular
Strong's 6213: To do, make

though
כִּֽי־ (kî-)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

you dress
תִלְבְּשִׁ֨י (ṯil·bə·šî)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - second person feminine singular
Strong's 3847: Wrap around, to put on a, garment, clothe

yourself in scarlet,
שָׁנִ֜י (šā·nî)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 8144: Crimson, the insect, its color, stuff dyed with it

though
כִּי־ (kî-)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

you adorn
תַעְדִּ֣י (ṯa‘·dî)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - second person feminine singular
Strong's 5710: To advance, pass on, continue, to remove, to bedeck

yourself with gold
זָהָ֗ב (zā·hāḇ)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 2091: Gold, something gold-colored, as oil, a clear sky

jewelry,
עֲדִי־ (‘ă·ḏî-)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 5716: Finery, an outfit, a headstall

though
כִּֽי־ (kî-)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

you enlarge
תִקְרְעִ֤י (ṯiq·rə·‘î)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - second person feminine singular
Strong's 7167: To rend

your eyes
עֵינַ֔יִךְ (‘ê·na·yiḵ)
Noun - cdc | second person feminine singular
Strong's 5869: An eye, a fountain

with paint?
בַפּוּךְ֙ (ḇap·pūḵ)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 6320: Antimony, stibium

You adorn yourself
תִּתְיַפִּ֑י (tiṯ·yap·pî)
Verb - Hitpael - Imperfect - second person feminine singular
Strong's 3302: To be bright, beautiful

in vain;
לַשָּׁ֖וְא (laš·šāw)
Preposition-l, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 7723: Evil, idolatry, uselessness

your lovers
עֹגְבִ֖ים (‘ō·ḡə·ḇîm)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine plural
Strong's 5689: To have inordinate affection, lust

despise you;
מָאֲסוּ־ (mā·’ă·sū-)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 3988: To spurn, to disappear

they want to take
יְבַקֵּֽשׁוּ׃ (yə·ḇaq·qê·šū)
Verb - Piel - Imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 1245: To search out, to strive after

your life.
נַפְשֵׁ֥ךְ (nap̄·šêḵ)
Noun - feminine singular construct | second person feminine singular
Strong's 5315: A soul, living being, life, self, person, desire, passion, appetite, emotion


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OT Prophets: Jeremiah 4:30 You when you are made desolate what (Jer.)
Jeremiah 4:29
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