Lamentations 5:5-15

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.

10 Our skin is hot as an oven, feverish from hunger.

11 Women have been violated in Zion, and virgins in the towns of Judah.

12 Princes have been hung up by their hands; elders are shown no respect.

13 Young men toil at the millstones; boys stagger under loads of wood.

14 The elders are gone from the city gate; the young men have stopped their music.

15 Joy is gone from our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning.

Lamentations 5:5-15 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. S Nehemiah 9:37; Isaiah 47:6
• 2. S Joshua 1:13
• 3. Jeremiah 2:36; Hosea 5:13; Hosea 7:11; Hosea 9:3
• 4. S Jeremiah 31:29
• 5. Jeremiah 14:20; Jeremiah 16:12
• 6. Nehemiah 5:15
• 7. Zechariah 11:6
• 8. S Job 30:30; S Lamentations 4:8-9
• 9. S Genesis 34:29; Zechariah 14:2
• 10. S Leviticus 19:32
• 11. S Lamentations 2:6; Lamentations 4:16
• 12. S Isaiah 24:8; Jeremiah 7:34
• 13. S Jeremiah 25:10; Amos 8:10