We must pay for the water we drink; the wood we get must be bought—the verse describes the loss of basic subsistence; what was freely available (water, wood) now must be purchased. This suggests that the land is controlled by foreigners and that the people are dispossessed even of basic resources. Theologically, the verse emphasizes that exile involves material deprivation; the people cannot meet basic needs. The necessity of paying for water and wood suggests a degraded condition of servitude; the people are now tenants or servants in what was once their own land. The verse suggests that the loss of the land has made the people economically dependent; they have lost economic autonomy. Yet the survival (they are still drinking water and gathering wood, even if they must pay) suggests that subsistence-level existence continues.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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