Lamentations 5:7

7 Our ancestors sinned, but now they are gone, and we are suffering for their sins.

Lamentations 5:7 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 5:7

Our fathers have sinned, [and are] not
In the world, as the Targum adds; they were in being, but not on earth; they were departed from hence, and gone into another world; and so were free from the miseries and calamities their children were attended with, and therefore more happy: and we have borne their iniquities;
the punishment of them, or chastisement for them: this is not said by way of complaint, much less as charging God with injustice, in punishing them for their fathers' sins, or to excuse theirs; for they were ready to own that they had consented to them, and were guilty of the same; but to obtain mercy and pity at the hands of God.

Lamentations 5:7 In-Context

5 Driven hard like donkeys or camels, we are tired, but are allowed no rest.

6 To get food enough to stay alive, we went begging to Egypt and Assyria.

7 Our ancestors sinned, but now they are gone, and we are suffering for their sins.

8 Our rulers are no better than slaves, and no one can save us from their power.

9 Murderers roam through the countryside; we risk our lives when we look for food.