Lamentations 5:7

7 Our people before us sinned. And they are now dead. We are being punished because of 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 Those who chase us are right behind us. We're tired. We can't get any rest.

6 We put ourselves under the control of Egypt and Assyria just to get enough bread.

7 Our people before us sinned. And they are now dead. We are being punished because of their sins.

8 Slaves rule over us. No one can set us free from their powerful hands.

9 We put our lives in danger just to get some bread to eat. Robbers in the desert might kill us with their swords.