Lamentations 5:4

4 We must pay for the water we drink; our wood comes at a price.

Lamentations 5:4 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 5:4

We have drunken our water for money
They who in their own land, which was a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths, had wells of water of their own, and water freely and in abundance, now were obliged to pay for it, for drink, and other uses: our wood is sold unto us;
or, "comes to us by a price" ^F18; and a dear one; in their own land they could have wood out of the forest, for cutting down and bringing home; but now they were forced to give a large price for it.

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FOOTNOTES:

F18 (waby ryxmb) "in pretio venerunt", Pagninus, Montanus; "caro nobis pretio veniunt", Michaelis.

Lamentations 5:4 In-Context

2 Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our houses to foreigners.

3 We have become orphans, fatherless; our mothers are widows.

4 We must pay for the water we drink; our wood comes at a price.

5 We are closely pursued; we are tired, and no one offers us rest.

6 We made a treaty with Egypt and with Assyria, to get enough food.