Lamentations 5:1-9

1 Remember, LORD, what has happened to us; look, and see our disgrace.

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

3 We have become fatherless, our mothers are widows.

4 We must buy the water we drink; our wood can be had only at a price.

5 Those who pursue us are at our heels; we are weary and find no rest.

6 We submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough bread.

7 Our ancestors sinned and are no more, and we bear their punishment.

8 Slaves rule over us, and there is no one to free us from their hands.

9 We get our bread at the risk of our lives because of the sword in the desert.

Lamentations 5:1-9 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO LAMENTATIONS 5

In this chapter are reckoned up the various calamities and distresses of the Jews in Babylon, which the Lord is desired to remember and consider, La 5:1-16; their great concern for the desolation of the temple in particular is expressed, La 5:17,18; and the chapter is concluded with a prayer that God would show favour to them, and turn them to him, and renew their prosperity as of old, though he had rejected them, and been wroth with them, La 5:19-22.

Cross References

• 1. Psalms 44:13-16; Psalms 89:50
• 2. Psalms 79:1
• 3. S Psalms 109:11
• 4. Zephaniah 1:13
• 5. Jeremiah 17:4
• 6. S Exodus 22:24; Jeremiah 15:8; S Jeremiah 18:21
• 7. S Isaiah 55:1; Ezekiel 4:16-17
• 8. Isaiah 3:1
• 9. S Nehemiah 9:37; Isaiah 47:6
• 10. S Joshua 1:13
• 11. Jeremiah 2:36; Hosea 5:13; Hosea 7:11; Hosea 9:3
• 12. S Jeremiah 31:29
• 13. Jeremiah 14:20; Jeremiah 16:12
• 14. Nehemiah 5:15
• 15. Zechariah 11:6