Lamentations 1:5

5 Its enemies have become its masters. They have an easy life. The LORD has brought suffering to Jerusalem because its people have committed so many sins. Its children have been taken away as prisoners. Their enemies have forced them to leave their homes.

Lamentations 1:5 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 1:5

Her adversaries are the chief
Or, "for the head" ^F14; or are the head, as was threatened, ( Deuteronomy 28:44 ) ; and now fulfilled; the Chaldeans having got the dominion over the Jews, and obliged them to be subject to them: her enemies prosper;
in wealth and riches, in grandeur and glory; live in ease and tranquillity, enjoying all outward felicity and happiness; while Zion was in distress; which was an aggravation of it; and yet this was but righteous judgment: for the Lord hath afflicted her;
who is righteous in all his ways: the Chaldeans were but instruments; the evil was from the Lord, according to his will and righteous determination, as appears by what follows: for the multitude of her transgressions: her children are gone into
captivity before the enemy;
that is, the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judea were carried captive by the enemy, and drove before them as a flock of sheep, and that for the sins of the nation; and these not a few, but were very numerous, as Mordecai and Ezekiel, and others, who were carried captive young with Jeconiah, as well as many now.

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FOOTNOTES:

F14 (varl) "in caput", Vatablus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "facti sunt caput", Cocceius.

Lamentations 1:5 In-Context

3 After Judah's people had suffered greatly, they were taken away as prisoners. Now they live among the nations. They can't find any place to rest. All those who were chasing them have caught up with them. And they can't get away.

4 The roads to Zion are empty. No one travels to its appointed feasts. All of the public places near its gates are deserted. Its priests groan. Its young women are sad. And Zion itself sobs bitterly.

5 Its enemies have become its masters. They have an easy life. The LORD has brought suffering to Jerusalem because its people have committed so many sins. Its children have been taken away as prisoners. Their enemies have forced them to leave their homes.

6 The city of Zion used to be full of glory. But now its glory has faded away. Its princes are like deer. They can't find anything to eat. They are almost too weak to get away from those who hunt them down.

7 Jerusalem's people are suffering and wandering. They remember all of the treasures they used to have. But they fell into the hands of their enemies. And no one was there to help them. Their enemies looked at them. They laughed because Jerusalem had been destroyed.