What Does Lamentations 4:7 Mean in the King James?
Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was of sapphire:
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
The Hebrew word behind “Nazarites” can mean consecrated ones and is used here for her nobles, joining set-apart status to visible splendor.
THE MEANING
The verse presents distinction in embodied terms: snow, milk, rubies, and sapphire. Its description reaches to the bone, as if radiance belongs to the whole person rather than only the surface. The next verse shows this same beauty facing collapse.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A consecrated name, rank, or beauty cannot make a person invulnerable to ruin.
THE ROOT
נְזִירֶיהָ
nəzirêhā
GROWS FROM
נ־ז־ר
n-z-r
To consecrate or set apart; its noun forms also carry the sense of consecration and crown.
The word rendered “Nazarites” means “her consecrated ones” and is often understood here as “her nobles.” Its root also gives a word for consecration and crown, so the verse’s snow and sapphire make their distinction visible.
ALSO GROWS
nāzîr: A consecrated person, one set apart
נָזִיר
This is the form behind “Nazarites,” linking the people described to consecration.
nēzer: Consecration; a crown or diadem
נֵזֶר
The crown branch helps show how being set apart carries public distinction and honor.
אָדְמוּ
ʾādmû
GROWS FROM
א־ד־ם
ʾ-d-m
To be red or ruddy.
The verse’s word for “ruddy” sits beside עֶצֶם (ʿetsem, “bone” or “body”), where the KJV says “in body.” The redness reaches the body’s frame, not only its surface, making the splendor feel wholly embodied.
ALSO GROWS
ʾādām: Human; Adam
אָדָם
The shared consonants bring the Hebrew word for humanity into the description of a vividly colored body.
ʾădāmāh: Ground, soil
אֲדָמָה
Genesis echoes the sound of adam and adamah to bind human life to the ground; here the same consonants lend the body its red, material vividness.
ʾĕdôm: Edom; red
אֱדוֹם
This branch preserves the root’s direct color sense and echoes the verse’s striking redness.
THE PATTERN
Scripture makes distinction visible through images of consecration, purity, and precious material.
All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head: until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto the LORD, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow.Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;THE THREAD
All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head: until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto the LORD, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow.The root נזר (n-z-r, “consecrate” or “set apart”) appears in the vow’s “separation” and “separateth himself.” It opens “Nazarites” beyond a label: the word carries a consecrated distinction that the snow, milk, rubies, and sapphire make visible.
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