Lamentations 5:16

16 The crown of our head fell down (The crowns have fallen from our heads); woe to us! for we (all have) sinned.

Lamentations 5:16 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 5:16

The crown is fallen [from] our head
Or, "the crown of our head is fallen" F1; all their honour and glory as a nation were gone; the glory of their kingdom and priesthood, to both which a crown or mitre belonged; the glory of church and state. Aben Ezra interprets it of the temple, the place of the divine Majesty. Sanctius thinks there is an allusion to the crowns they wore upon their heads at their feasts and festivals; and so the words have a close connection with what goes before: woe unto us that we have sinned!
which had brought all these evils upon them: this is not to be considered as an imprecation or denunciation of misery; but as a commiseration of their case; calling upon others to it, and particularly God himself, to have mercy upon them; for, alas for them! they had sinned, and justly deserved what was come upon them; and therefore throw themselves at the feet of mercy, and implore divine compassion.


FOOTNOTES:

F1 (wnvar trje hlpn) "cecidit corona capitis nostri", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Calvin, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

Lamentations 5:16 In-Context

14 Eld men failed from [the] gates; young men failed from the quire of singers. (Old men no longer sit at the city gates; young men no longer sing in the choir.)
15 The joy of our heart failed; our song is turned into mourning.
16 The crown of our head fell down (The crowns have fallen from our heads); woe to us! for we (all have) sinned.
17 Therefore our heart is made sorrowful, therefore our eyes be made dark.
18 For the hill of Zion, for it perished; foxes went in it. (For Mount Zion, for it hath perished; and now foxes run all over it.)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.