Lamentations 5:4

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

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.

Lamentations 5:4 In-Context

2 Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens.
3 We are orphans without father; our mothers are as widows.
4 We have drunk our water for money; our wood is sold unto us.
5 Our necks are under persecution; we are become tired and have no rest.
6 We have given the hand to the Egyptians and to the Assyrians to be satisfied with bread.
The Jubilee Bible (from the Scriptures of the Reformation), edited by Russell M. Stendal, Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2010