Lamentations 5:3

3 We be made fatherless children without (a) father; our mothers be as widows (our mothers be like widows).

Lamentations 5:3 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 5:3

We are orphans and fatherless
In every sense; in a natural sense, their fathers having been cut off by the sword, famine, or pestilence; in a civil sense, their king being taken from them; and in a religious sense, God having forsaken them for their sins: our mothers [are] as widows;
either really so, their husbands being dead; or were as if they had no husbands, they not being able to provide for them, protect and deferred them. The Targum adds,

``whose husbands are gone to the cities of the sea, and it is doubtful whether they are alive.''

Some understand this politically, of their cities being desolate and defenceless.

Lamentations 5:3 In-Context

1 Lord, have thou mind what befell to us (Lord, remember what hath happened to us); see thou, and behold our shame.

2 Our heritage is turned to aliens, our houses be turned to strangers. (Our inheritance is turned, or given, over to foreigners, our houses be turned over to strangers.)

3 We be made fatherless children without (a) father; our mothers be as widows (our mothers be like widows).

4 We drank our water for money, we bought our wood for silver. (We must buy our water to drink with money, and we must buy our wood to burn with silver.)

5 We were driven by our heads, and rest was not given to faint men. (The yoke is upon our necks, and rest is not given to the weary.)