Lamentations 5:4

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

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Lamentations 5:4 in Other Translations

KJV

4 We have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold unto us.

ESV

4 We must pay for the water we drink; the wood we get must be bought.

NLT

4 We have to pay for water to drink, and even firewood is expensive.

MSG

4 We have to pay to drink our own water. Even our firewood comes at a price.

CSB

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.

FOOTNOTES:

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

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Lamentations 5:4 In-Context

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.

Cross References 2

1. S Isaiah 55:1; Ezekiel 4:16-17
2. Isaiah 3:1

Lamentations 5:4

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Lamentations 5:4 in Other Translations

Lamentations 5:4 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 5:4 In-Context

Cross References 2