Lamentations 1:5

5 Her enemies succeeded; they hold her in their power. The Lord has made her suffer for all her many sins; Her children have been captured and taken away.

Lamentations 1:5 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 1:5

Her adversaries are the chief
Or, "for the head" ^F14; or are the head, as was threatened, ( Deuteronomy 28:44 ) ; and now fulfilled; the Chaldeans having got the dominion over the Jews, and obliged them to be subject to them: her enemies prosper;
in wealth and riches, in grandeur and glory; live in ease and tranquillity, enjoying all outward felicity and happiness; while Zion was in distress; which was an aggravation of it; and yet this was but righteous judgment: for the Lord hath afflicted her;
who is righteous in all his ways: the Chaldeans were but instruments; the evil was from the Lord, according to his will and righteous determination, as appears by what follows: for the multitude of her transgressions: her children are gone into
captivity before the enemy;
that is, the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judea were carried captive by the enemy, and drove before them as a flock of sheep, and that for the sins of the nation; and these not a few, but were very numerous, as Mordecai and Ezekiel, and others, who were carried captive young with Jeconiah, as well as many now.

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FOOTNOTES:

F14 (varl) "in caput", Vatablus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "facti sunt caput", Cocceius.

Lamentations 1:5 In-Context

3 Judah's people are helpless slaves, forced away from home. They live in other lands, with no place to call their own - Surrounded by enemies, with no way to escape.

4 No one comes to the Temple now to worship on the holy days. The young women who sang there suffer, and the priests can only groan. The city gates stand empty, and Zion is in agony.

5 Her enemies succeeded; they hold her in their power. The Lord has made her suffer for all her many sins; Her children have been captured and taken away.

6 The splendor of Jerusalem is a thing of the past. Her leaders are like deer that are weak from hunger, Whose strength is almost gone as they flee from the hunters.

7 A lonely ruin now, Jerusalem recalls her ancient splendor. When she fell to the enemy, there was no one to help her; Her conquerors laughed at her downfall.