8 Servants have ruled over us: there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand.
9 We gat our bread with the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness.
10 Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine.
11 They ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah.
12 Princes are hanged up by their hand: the faces of elders were not honoured.
13 They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood.
14 The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their musick.
15 The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning.
16 The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned!
8 Servants H5650 have ruled H4910 over us: there is none that doth deliver H6561 us out of their hand. H3027
9 We gat H935 our bread H3899 with the peril of our lives H5315 because H6440 of the sword H2719 of the wilderness. H4057
10 Our skin H5785 was black H3648 like an oven H8574 because H6440 of the terrible H2152 famine. H7458
11 They ravished H6031 the women H802 in Zion, H6726 and the maids H1330 in the cities H5892 of Judah. H3063
12 Princes H8269 are hanged up H8518 by their hand: H3027 the faces H6440 of elders H2205 were not honoured. H1921
13 They took H5375 the young men H970 to grind, H2911 and the children H5288 fell H3782 under the wood. H6086
14 The elders H2205 have ceased H7673 from the gate, H8179 the young men H970 from their musick. H5058
15 The joy H4885 of our heart H3820 is ceased; H7673 our dance H4234 is turned H2015 into mourning. H60
16 The crown H5850 is fallen H5307 from our head: H7218 woe H188 unto us, that we have sinned! H2398
8 Servants rule over us: There is none to deliver us out of their hand.
9 We get our bread at the peril of our lives, Because of the sword of the wilderness.
10 Our skin is black like an oven, Because of the burning heat of famine.
11 They ravished the women in Zion, The virgins in the cities of Judah.
12 Princes were hanged up by their hand: The faces of elders were not honored.
13 The young men bare the mill; And the children stumbled under the wood.
14 The elders have ceased from the gate, The young men from their music.
15 The joy of our heart is ceased; Our dance is turned into mourning.
16 The crown is fallen from our head: Woe unto us! for we have sinned.
8 Servants have ruled over us, A deliverer there is none from their hand.
9 With our lives we bring in our bread, Because of the sword of the wilderness.
10 Our skin as an oven hath been burning, Because of the raging of the famine.
11 Wives in Zion they have humbled, Virgins -- in cities of Judah.
12 Princes by their hand have been hanged, The faces of elders have not been honoured.
13 Young men to grind they have taken, And youths with wood have stumbled.
14 The aged from the gate have ceased, Young men from their song.
15 Ceased hath the joy of our heart, Turned to mourning hath been our dancing.
16 Fallen hath the crown `from' our head, Wo `is' now to us, for we have sinned.
8 Bondmen rule over us: there is no deliverer out of their hand.
9 We have to get our bread at the risk of our lives, because of the sword of the wilderness.
10 Our skin gloweth like an oven, because of the burning heat of the famine.
11 They have ravished the women in Zion, the maids in the cities of Judah.
12 Princes were hanged up by their hand; the faces of elders were not honoured.
13 The young men have borne the mill, and the youths have stumbled under the wood.
14 The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their music.
15 The joy of our heart hath ceased; our dance is turned into mourning.
16 The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, for we have sinned!
8 Servants rule over us: There is none to deliver us out of their hand.
9 We get our bread at the peril of our lives, Because of the sword of the wilderness.
10 Our skin is black like an oven, Because of the burning heat of famine.
11 They ravished the women in Zion, The virgins in the cities of Judah.
12 Princes were hanged up by their hand: The faces of elders were not honored.
13 The young men bare the mill; The children stumbled under the wood.
14 The elders have ceased from the gate, The young men from their music.
15 The joy of our heart is ceased; Our dance is turned into mourning.
16 The crown is fallen from our head: Woe to us! for we have sinned.
8 Servants are ruling over us, and there is no one to make us free from their hands.
9 We put our lives in danger to get our bread, because of the sword of the waste land.
10 Our skin is heated like an oven because of our burning heat from need of food.
11 They took by force the women in Zion, the virgins in the towns of Judah.
12 Their hands put princes to death by hanging: the faces of old men were not honoured.
13 The young men were crushing the grain, and the boys were falling under the wood.
14 The old men are no longer seated in the doorway, and the music of the young men has come to an end.
15 The joy of our hearts is ended; our dancing is changed into sorrow.
16 The crown has been taken from our head: sorrow is ours, for we are sinners.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Lamentations 5
Commentary on Lamentations 5 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 5
La 5:1-22. Epiphonema, or a Closing Recapitulation of the Calamities Treated in the Previous Elegies.
1. (Ps 89:50, 51).
2. Our inheritance—"Thine inheritance" (Ps 79:1). The land given of old to us by Thy gift.
3. fatherless—Our whole land is full of orphans [Calvin]. Or, "we are fatherless," being abandoned by Thee our "Father" (Jer 3:19), [Grotius].
4. water for money—The Jews were compelled to pay the enemy for the water of their own cisterns after the overthrow of Jerusalem; or rather, it refers to their sojourn in Babylon; they had to pay tax for access to the rivers and fountains. Thus, "our" means the water which we need, the commonest necessary of life.
our wood—In Judea each one could get wood without pay; in Babylon, "our wood," the wood we need, must be paid for.
5. Literally, "On our necks we are persecuted"; that is, Men tread on our necks (Ps 66:12; Isa 51:23; compare Jos 10:24). The extremest oppression. The foe not merely galled the Jews face, back, and sides, but their neck. A just retribution, as they had been stiff in neck against the yoke of God (2Ch 30:8, Margin; Ne 9:29; Isa 48:4).
6. given … hand to—in token of submission (see on Jer 50:15).
to … Egyptians—at the death of Josiah (2Ch 36:3, 4).
Assyrians—that is, the Chaldeans who occupied the empire which Assyria had held. So Jer 2:18.
to be satisfied with bread—(De 28:48).
7. (Jer 31:29).
borne their iniquities—that is, the punishment of them. The accumulated sins of our fathers from age to age, as well as our own, are visited on us. They say this as a plea why God should pity them (compare Eze 18:2, &c.).
8. Servants … ruled … us—Servants under the Chaldean governors ruled the Jews (Ne 5:15). Israel, once a "kingdom of priests" (Ex 19:6), is become like Canaan, "a servant of servants," according to the curse (Ge 9:25). The Chaldeans were designed to be "servants" of Shem, being descended from Ham (Ge 9:26). Now through the Jews' sin, their positions are reversed.
9. We gat our bread with … peril—that is, those of us left in the city after its capture by the Chaldeans.
because of … sword of … wilderness—because of the liability to attack by the robber Arabs of the wilderness, through which the Jews had to pass to get "bread" from Egypt (compare La 5:6).
10. As an oven is scorched with too much fire, so our skin with the hot blast of famine (Margin, rightly, "storms," like the hot simoom). Hunger dries up the pores so that the skin becomes like as if it were scorched by the sun (Job 30:30; Ps 119:83).
11. So in just retribution Babylon itself should fare in the end. Jerusalem shall for the last time suffer these woes before her final restoration (Zec 14:2).
12. hanged … by their hand—a piece of wanton cruelty invented by the Chaldeans. Grotius translates, "Princes were hung by the hand of the enemy"; hanging was a usual mode of execution (Ge 40:19).
elders—officials (La 4:16).
13. young men … grind—The work of the lowest female slave was laid on young men (Jud 16:21; Job 31:10).
children fell under … wood—Mere children had to bear burdens of wood so heavy that they sank beneath them.
14. Aged men in the East meet in the open space round the gate to decide judicial trials and to hold social converse (Job 29:7, 8).
16. The crown—all our glory, the kingdom and the priesthood (Job 19:9; Ps 89:39, 44).
17. (La 1:22; 2:11).
18. foxes—They frequent desolate places where they can freely and fearlessly roam.
19. (Ps 102:12). The perpetuity of God's rule over human affairs, however He may seem to let His people be oppressed for a time, is their ground of hope of restoration.
20. for ever—that is, for "so long a time."
21. (Ps 80:3; Jer 31:18). "Restore us to favor with Thee, and so we shall be restored to our old position" [Grotius]. Jeremiah is not speaking of spiritual conversion, but of that outward turning whereby God receives men into His fatherly favor, manifested in bestowing prosperity [Calvin]. Still, as Israel is a type of the Church, temporal goods typify spiritual blessings; and so the sinner may use this prayer for God to convert him.
22. Rather, "Unless haply Thou hast utterly rejected us, and art beyond measure wroth against us," that is, Unless Thou art implacable, which is impossible, hear our prayer [Calvin]. Or, as Margin, "For wouldest Thou utterly reject us?" &c.—No; that cannot be. The Jews, in this book, and in Isaiah and Malachi, to avoid the ill-omen of a mournful closing sentence, repeat the verse immediately preceding the last [Calvin].