Lamentations5
New International Version
1Remember, Lord, what has happened to us; look, and see our disgrace.
2Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to foreigners.
3We have become fatherless, our mothers are widows.
4We must buy the water we drink; our wood can be had only at a price.
5Those who pursue us are at our heels; we are weary and find no rest.
6We submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough bread.
7Our ancestors sinned and are no more, and we bear their punishment.
8Slaves rule over us, and there is no one to free us from their hands.
9We get our bread at the risk of our lives because of the sword in the desert.
10Our skin is hot as an oven, feverish from hunger.
11Women have been violated in Zion, and virgins in the towns of Judah.
12Princes have been hung up by their hands; elders are shown no respect.
13Young men toil at the millstones; boys stagger under loads of wood.
14The elders are gone from the city gate; the young men have stopped their music.
15Joy is gone from our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning.
16The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned!
17Because of this our hearts are faint, because of these things our eyes grow dim
18for Mount Zion, which lies desolate, with jackals prowling over it.
19You, Lord, reign forever; your throne endures from generation to generation.
20Why do you always forget us? Why do you forsake us so long?
21Restore us to yourself, Lord, that we may return; renew our days as of old
22unless you have utterly rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Lamentations 5.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: The Jewish nation supplicating the Divine favour. (1-22).
vv1-16
Is any afflicted? Let him pray; and let him in prayer pour out his complaint to God. The people of God do so here; they complain not of evils feared, but of evils felt. If penitent and patient under what we suffer for the sins of our fathers, we may expect that He who punishes, will return in mercy to us. They acknowledge, Woe unto us that we have sinned! All our woes are owing to our own sin and folly. Though our sins and God's just displeasure cause our sufferings, we may hope in his pardoning mercy, his sanctifying grace, and his kind providence. But the sins of a man's whole life will be punished with vengeance at last, unless he obtains an interest in Him who bare our sins in his own body on the tree.
vv17-22
The people of God express deep concern for the ruins of the temple, more than for any other of their calamities. But whatever changes there are on earth, God is still the same, and remains for ever wise and holy, just and good; with Him there is no variableness nor shadow of turning. They earnestly pray to God for mercy and grace; Turn us to thee, O Lord. God never leaves any till they first leave him; if he turns them to him in a way of duty, no doubt he will quickly return to them in a way of mercy. If God by his grace renew our hearts, he will by his favour renew our days. Troubles may cause our hearts to be faint, and our eyes to be dim, but the way to the mercy-seat of our reconciled God is open. Let us, in all our trials, put our whole trust and confidence in his mercy; let us confess our sins, and pour out our hearts before him. Let us watch against repinings and despondency; for we surely know, that it shall be well in the end with all that trust in, fear, love, and serve the Lord. Are not the Lord's judgments in the earth the same as in Jeremiah's days? Let Zion then be remembered by us in our prayers, and her welfare be sought above every earthly joy. Spare, Lord, spare thy people, and give not thine heritage to reproach, for the heathen to rule over them.
Key Words
זָכַר: properly, to mark (so as to be recognized), i.e. to remember; by implication, to mention; to be male
מָה: properly, interrogative what? (including how? why? when?); but also exclamation, what! (including how!), or indefinitely what (including whatever, and even relatively, that which); often used with prefixes in various adverbial or conjunctive senses
נָבַט: to scan, i.e. look intently at; by implication, to regard with pleasure, favor or care
רָאָה: to see, literally or figuratively (in numerous applications, direct and implied, transitive, intransitive and causative)
חֶרְפָּה: contumely, disgrace, the pudenda
נַחֲלָה: properly, something inherited, i.e. (abstractly) occupancy, or (concretely) an heirloom; generally an estate, patrimony or portion
הָפַךְ: to turn about or over; by implication, to change, overturn, return, pervert
זוּר: to turn aside (especially for lodging); hence to be aforeigner, strange, profane; specifically (active participle) to commit adultery
בַּיִת: a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etc.)
נׇכְרִי: strange, in a variety of degrees and applications (foreign, non-relative, adulterous, different, wonderful)
Cross References
Lamentations 5The proverbial expression concerning children bearing the consequences and punishment of their fathers' sins.
Supported by JFB
Divine correction of the people's fatalistic misuse of the proverb about fathers' sins.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Ephraim's repentant prayer to be turned and restored by God, matching the plea here.
Supported by JFB
Corporate liturgical plea for restoration and the shining of God's face.
Supported by JFB
Lament over the heathen invading and possessing God's promised inheritance.
Supported by JFB
The custom of 'giving the hand' as a gesture of submission to conquerors.
Supported by JFB
Historical fulfillment where foreign servants and subordinate officials ruled over Judah.
Supported by JFB
Poetic description of skin turning black under intense physical suffering and disease.
Supported by JFB
The physical toll of affliction, compared to a shriveled bottle in the smoke.
Supported by JFB
Grinding at the mill as the standard degrading labor forced upon captives.
Supported by JFB
The stripping of glory and honor poetically described as a crown taken away.
Supported by JFB
The profaning of the covenant crown by casting it to the ground.
Supported by JFB
Contrast between earthly ruin and the eternal, unchanging reign of Yahweh.
Supported by JFB
The foolish political alliances with Egypt and Assyria for material security.
Supported by JFB