2 Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens.
3 We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows.
4 We have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold unto us.
5 Our necks are under persecution: we labour, and have no rest.
6 We have given the hand to the Egyptians, and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.
7 Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities.
2 Our inheritance H5159 is turned H2015 to strangers, H2114 our houses H1004 to aliens. H5237
3 We are orphans H3490 and fatherless, H369 H1 our mothers H517 are as widows. H490
4 We have drunken H8354 our water H4325 for money; H3701 our wood H6086 is sold H935 H4242 unto us.
5 Our necks H6677 are under persecution: H7291 we labour, H3021 and have no rest. H5117
6 We have given H5414 the hand H3027 to the Egyptians, H4714 and to the Assyrians, H804 to be satisfied H7646 with bread. H3899
7 Our fathers H1 have sinned, H2398 and are not; H369 and we have borne H5445 their iniquities. H5771
2 Our inheritance is turned unto strangers, Our houses unto aliens.
3 We are orphans and fatherless; Our mothers are as widows.
4 We have drunken our water for money; Our wood is sold unto us.
5 Our pursuers are upon our necks: We are weary, and have no rest.
6 We have given the hand to the Egyptians, And to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.
7 Our fathers sinned, and are not; And we have borne their iniquities.
2 Our inheritance hath been turned to strangers, Our houses to foreigners.
3 Orphans we have been -- without a father, our mothers `are' as widows.
4 Our water for money we have drunk, Our wood for a price doth come.
5 For our neck we have been pursued, We have laboured -- there hath been no rest for us.
6 `To' Egypt we have given a hand, `To' Asshur, to be satisfied with bread.
7 Our fathers have sinned -- they are not, We their iniquities have borne.
2 Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens.
3 We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows.
4 Our water have we to drink for money, our wood cometh unto us for a price.
5 Our pursuers are on our necks: we are weary, we have no rest.
6 We have given the hand to Egypt, [and] to Asshur, to be satisfied with bread.
7 Our fathers have sinned, [and] they are not; and we bear their iniquities.
2 Our inheritance is turned to strangers, Our houses to aliens.
3 We are orphans and fatherless; Our mothers are as widows.
4 We have drunken our water for money; Our wood is sold to us.
5 Our pursuers are on our necks: We are weary, and have no rest.
6 We have given the hand to the Egyptians, To the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.
7 Our fathers sinned, and are no more; We have borne their iniquities.
2 Our heritage is given up to men of strange lands, our houses to those who are not our countrymen.
3 We are children without fathers, our mothers are like widows.
4 We give money for a drink of water, we get our wood for a price.
5 Our attackers are on our necks: overcome with weariness, we have no rest.
6 We have given our hands to the Egyptians and to the Assyrians so that we might have enough bread.
7 Our fathers were sinners and are dead; and the weight of their evil-doing is on us.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Lamentations 5
Commentary on Lamentations 5 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 5
La 5:1-22. Epiphonema, or a Closing Recapitulation of the Calamities Treated in the Previous Elegies.
1. (Ps 89:50, 51).
2. Our inheritance—"Thine inheritance" (Ps 79:1). The land given of old to us by Thy gift.
3. fatherless—Our whole land is full of orphans [Calvin]. Or, "we are fatherless," being abandoned by Thee our "Father" (Jer 3:19), [Grotius].
4. water for money—The Jews were compelled to pay the enemy for the water of their own cisterns after the overthrow of Jerusalem; or rather, it refers to their sojourn in Babylon; they had to pay tax for access to the rivers and fountains. Thus, "our" means the water which we need, the commonest necessary of life.
our wood—In Judea each one could get wood without pay; in Babylon, "our wood," the wood we need, must be paid for.
5. Literally, "On our necks we are persecuted"; that is, Men tread on our necks (Ps 66:12; Isa 51:23; compare Jos 10:24). The extremest oppression. The foe not merely galled the Jews face, back, and sides, but their neck. A just retribution, as they had been stiff in neck against the yoke of God (2Ch 30:8, Margin; Ne 9:29; Isa 48:4).
6. given … hand to—in token of submission (see on Jer 50:15).
to … Egyptians—at the death of Josiah (2Ch 36:3, 4).
Assyrians—that is, the Chaldeans who occupied the empire which Assyria had held. So Jer 2:18.
to be satisfied with bread—(De 28:48).
7. (Jer 31:29).
borne their iniquities—that is, the punishment of them. The accumulated sins of our fathers from age to age, as well as our own, are visited on us. They say this as a plea why God should pity them (compare Eze 18:2, &c.).
8. Servants … ruled … us—Servants under the Chaldean governors ruled the Jews (Ne 5:15). Israel, once a "kingdom of priests" (Ex 19:6), is become like Canaan, "a servant of servants," according to the curse (Ge 9:25). The Chaldeans were designed to be "servants" of Shem, being descended from Ham (Ge 9:26). Now through the Jews' sin, their positions are reversed.
9. We gat our bread with … peril—that is, those of us left in the city after its capture by the Chaldeans.
because of … sword of … wilderness—because of the liability to attack by the robber Arabs of the wilderness, through which the Jews had to pass to get "bread" from Egypt (compare La 5:6).
10. As an oven is scorched with too much fire, so our skin with the hot blast of famine (Margin, rightly, "storms," like the hot simoom). Hunger dries up the pores so that the skin becomes like as if it were scorched by the sun (Job 30:30; Ps 119:83).
11. So in just retribution Babylon itself should fare in the end. Jerusalem shall for the last time suffer these woes before her final restoration (Zec 14:2).
12. hanged … by their hand—a piece of wanton cruelty invented by the Chaldeans. Grotius translates, "Princes were hung by the hand of the enemy"; hanging was a usual mode of execution (Ge 40:19).
elders—officials (La 4:16).
13. young men … grind—The work of the lowest female slave was laid on young men (Jud 16:21; Job 31:10).
children fell under … wood—Mere children had to bear burdens of wood so heavy that they sank beneath them.
14. Aged men in the East meet in the open space round the gate to decide judicial trials and to hold social converse (Job 29:7, 8).
16. The crown—all our glory, the kingdom and the priesthood (Job 19:9; Ps 89:39, 44).
17. (La 1:22; 2:11).
18. foxes—They frequent desolate places where they can freely and fearlessly roam.
19. (Ps 102:12). The perpetuity of God's rule over human affairs, however He may seem to let His people be oppressed for a time, is their ground of hope of restoration.
20. for ever—that is, for "so long a time."
21. (Ps 80:3; Jer 31:18). "Restore us to favor with Thee, and so we shall be restored to our old position" [Grotius]. Jeremiah is not speaking of spiritual conversion, but of that outward turning whereby God receives men into His fatherly favor, manifested in bestowing prosperity [Calvin]. Still, as Israel is a type of the Church, temporal goods typify spiritual blessings; and so the sinner may use this prayer for God to convert him.
22. Rather, "Unless haply Thou hast utterly rejected us, and art beyond measure wroth against us," that is, Unless Thou art implacable, which is impossible, hear our prayer [Calvin]. Or, as Margin, "For wouldest Thou utterly reject us?" &c.—No; that cannot be. The Jews, in this book, and in Isaiah and Malachi, to avoid the ill-omen of a mournful closing sentence, repeat the verse immediately preceding the last [Calvin].