Lamentations 5
A Plea to the LORD 1–3
Social and Physical Ruin 4–10
Humiliation and Loss of Dignity 11–18
Appeal to God's Eternal Reign 19–22
Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain
Study Notes for Lamentations 5
Verse 1
Remember, O LORD — Zakar, to remember, is joined to two verbs of looking, 'consider' (nabat) and 'behold' (ra'ah), so the prayer asks God to turn his attention to the people's 'reproach' (cherpah, disgrace). The same appeal is made over the nation's shame in Ps 89:50, 'Remember, Lord, the reproach of thy servants'.
Verse 2
Our inheritance is turned to strangers — The 'inheritance' (nachalah) is the land the LORD gave Israel, which could not be sold outright, 'for the land is mine' (Lev 25:23). Now 'strangers' (zur) and 'aliens' (nokri) hold it, as in Isa 1:7, 'strangers devour it in your presence', and Ps 79:1.
Verse 3
orphans and fatherless — 'Orphans' is yatom; 'fatherless' is literally 'no father' (ayin ab), and the mothers are 'as widows' (almanah). These are the people the LORD defends: 'A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation' (Ps 68:5).
Verse 4
our water for money — Water and wood, the plainest daily needs, now come at a price (mechir; 'money' is keseph, silver). Israel had once been told to 'buy water of them for money' from the sons of Esau (Deut 2:6). The LORD's own invitation is 'without money and without price' (Isa 55:1).
Verse 6
given the hand — To 'give the hand' (nathan yad) is to pledge oneself to another, as Jehonadab did at 2 Kings 10:15. Judah had long looked to 'Egypt' and 'Assyria': 'what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor?' (Jer 2:18). Here the pledge buys only 'bread'.
Verse 7
Our fathers have sinned, and are not — 'Are not' is ayin, no longer existing. The survivors still own their share: 'woe unto us, that we have sinned' (v.16). 'Borne' is sabal, the verb of Isa 53:11, 'he shall bear their iniquities'. The sour-grape proverb is set aside in Jer 31:29–30: 'every one shall die for his own iniquity'.
Verse 8
Servants have ruled over us — Ebed, a servant, is the word of Prov 30:22, 'a servant when he reigneth', one of the things for which 'the earth is disquieted' (Prov 30:21). 'Deliver' is paraq, to tear loose, the verb of Ps 136:24, 'hath redeemed us from our enemies'; here there is no one to do it.
Verse 9
the sword of the wilderness — 'With the peril of our lives' is literally 'with our lives' (nephesh), the word of 2 Sam 23:17, 'in jeopardy of their lives', where David would not drink water won at that cost. 'Of the wilderness' (midbar) puts the sword in open country outside the towns where the bread had to be got.
Verse 10
black like an oven — Tannur is a baking oven. 'Terrible' is zalaphah, a scorching heat; it occurs only here and in Ps 11:6, 'horrible tempest', and Ps 119:53, 'Horror'. Lam 4:8 says the same of their looks: 'Their visage is blacker than a coal… their skin cleaveth to their bones'.
Verse 11
They ravished the women — The verb is anah, to humble or afflict, as in Deut 22:24, 'he hath humbled his neighbour's wife'. The 'maids' are virgins (bethulah), like those lamented in Lam 1:18, 'my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity'. Zech 14:2 names the same outrage when the city is taken.
Verse 12
Princes are hanged up — Talah, to hang, is the verb for hanging on a tree (Deut 21:22). The slaying of Judah's leaders at Riblah is told in 2 Kings 25:18–21. 'Honoured' is hadar, the verb of Lev 19:32, 'honour the face of the old man', so the elders' 'faces' were denied what the Law commanded.
Verse 13
the young men to grind — The 'young men' (bachur, chosen ones) are put to the hand mill (tachon), work done by servants and captives, as when Samson 'did grind in the prison house' (Judg 16:21). The 'children' (naar, boys) 'fell' (kashal, to stumble) 'under the wood'.
Verse 14
ceased from the gate — The gate was where elders sat and cases were heard: Boaz 'took ten men of the elders of the city' there (Ruth 4:1–2), and a husband is 'known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders' (Prov 31:23). 'Musick' is neginah, a stringed song, as in Lam 3:14, 'their song all the day'.
Verse 16
The crown is fallen — The 'crown' (atarah) is the mark of honour; Job says 'taken the crown from my head' (Job 19:9). 'Woe unto us' (oy) is a cry of lament, and the people name the cause: 'that we have sinned', as in 'The LORD is righteous; for I have rebelled' (Lam 1:18) and 'We have transgressed and have rebelled' (Lam 3:42).
Verse 18
the foxes walk upon it — Shual is the fox or jackal; Samson 'caught three hundred foxes' (Judg 15:4). 'Desolate' is shamem. The ruin of 'the mountain of Zion' is what Micah had said: 'Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps' (Mic 3:12).
Verse 19
remainest for ever — Where the crown has fallen (v.16), the throne stands. 'Remainest' is yashab, to sit, the verb of Ps 9:7, 'the LORD shall endure for ever: he hath prepared his throne for judgment'. Ps 102:12 opens the same way: 'But thou, O LORD, shalt endure for ever; and thy remembrance unto all generations'.
Verse 21
Turn thou us unto thee — One verb, shub, is used twice: 'turn thou us' and 'we shall be turned', so the turning begins with God. Jer 31:18 has the same prayer, 'turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the LORD my God', and Ps 80:3, 'Turn us again, O God'. 'Of old' is qedem, the former days.
Verse 22
utterly rejected — Maas, to spurn, is doubled for force ('utterly rejected'), as in Jer 14:19, 'Hast thou utterly rejected Judah?' Under the Law the LORD had said that even in the land of their enemies 'I will not cast them away' (Lev 26:44), using the same verb.