What Does Lamentations 4:15 Mean in the King James?
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 analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
“Unclean” does not stay a word on the body; it becomes an order that takes away touch and a place to remain.
THE MEANING
The cry shows how a spoken judgment becomes a bodily boundary: touch is refused, movement becomes flight, and flight becomes wandering. Even a place to remain disappears when others repeat the verdict.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that exclusion is only a word: here, “unclean” governs touch, movement, and the possibility of dwelling.
THE ROOT
תִּגָּעוּ
tiggaʿu
GROWS FROM
נגע
To touch, reach, or strike.
The verb translated “touch” shares its root with a Hebrew noun for a blow, plague, or affliction. In this cry, contact itself is made to carry the meaning of danger, so the marked person is treated as though nearness were contamination.
ALSO GROWS
nāgaʿ: To touch or reach.
נָגַע
This is the verb behind the command not to touch.
negaʿ: A blow, plague, or affliction.
נֶגַע
The shared root links physical contact with the language of affliction.
טָמֵא
ṭāmēʾ
GROWS FROM
טמא
To be unclean or defiled.
The word is spoken aloud, then enacted through separation: they flee, wander, and lose a place to stay. Here, “unclean” functions as a status that changes access and belonging, not just as a description.
ALSO GROWS
ṭāmēʾ: Unclean or defiled.
טָמֵא
This is the word shouted at the people in the verse.
ṭumʾāh: Uncleanness or defilement.
טֻמְאָה
The noun form names the condition that the cry turns into a boundary.
לָגוּר
lāgūr
GROWS FROM
גור
To dwell as a sojourner or outsider.
“sojourn” in this verse is lāgūr. The final loss is more than movement: the verb describes dwelling as a sojourner, and the verse says even that provisional place is gone. The passage moves from exclusion from contact to exclusion from dwelling.
ALSO GROWS
gēr: A sojourner or resident alien.
גֵּר
This related word names someone who lives among others without being fully at home.
megurim: Sojournings or dwelling places.
מְגוּרִים
This noun form makes visible the place to stay that the verse says they will no longer have.
THE PATTERN
The label “unclean” can turn a condition into a boundary around touch and belonging, and a touch can cross that boundary.
All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be.My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore; and my kinsmen stand afar off.And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean.THE THREAD
All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be.The same Hebrew word טָמֵא (ṭāmēʾ, unclean or defiled), from the root טמא, appears in both verses. Leviticus spells out what Lamentations shows in motion: the label determines who may touch the marked person and whether that person can dwell among others.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us