Lamentations 5:7

7 Our ancestors sinned, but they have died— and we are suffering the punishment they deserved!

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 pursue us are at our heels; we are exhausted but are given no rest.

6 We submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough food to survive.

7 Our ancestors sinned, but they have died— and we are suffering the punishment they deserved!

8 Slaves have now become our masters; there is no one left to rescue us.

9 We hunt for food at the risk of our lives, for violence rules the countryside.