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Lamentations 5

1

Remember, O Lord, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach.

2
2

Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens.

3

We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows.

1
1
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.

2
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.

1
8

Servants have ruled over us: there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand.

9

We gat our bread with the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness.

1
10

Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine.

2
11

They ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah.

1
12

Princes are hanged up by their hand: the faces of elders were not honoured.

13

They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood.

2
14

The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their musick.

2
15

The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning.

16

The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned!

1
17

For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim.

2
3
18

Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it.

2
3
19

Thou, O Lord, remainest for ever; thy throne from generation to generation.

1
20

Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time?

21

Turn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.

22

But thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth against us.

1
2
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Lamentations 5:3

“We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows.”

Study Summary

We have become orphans, fatherless; our mothers are like widows—the verse uses familial imagery to describe the national condition: the people are orphaned and their mothers widowed. The loss of father figure suggests the loss of protector and provider; orphans are those without protection. Theologically, the verse presents the people as vulnerable and undefended; they are in the condition of greatest weakness. The mothers' widowhood suggests that the men are dead or taken away; the family structure is destroyed. The verse emphasizes the psychological and spiritual desolation: the basic structures of family and protection are gone. Yet the comparison to mothers and children suggests persistence; even orphans and widows exist and survive. The verse appeals to God to restore the father role; implicitly, God is the father who should protect the orphaned people.

Community Reflections

1
Lena Hoffmann (test user)7h ago
The heart of worship — Lamentations 5

Their context of persecution gives these words a weight we often miss.. God is faithful in every circumstance.. There's something deeply comforting about knowing that the same God who spoke these words is the same yesterday, today, and forever.. Today it speaks comfort; a year ago it spoke conviction.. God is faithful in every circumstance.. God is faithful in every circumstance.. God is faithful in every circumstance.. This is one of those passages that reads differently in every season of life. Now I understand why — it's a daily declaration of dependence on God.. The contrast between human weakness and divine strength is so vivid in this passage. God is faithful in every circumstance.. God is faithful in every circumstance.. God is faithful in every circumstance.. God is faithful in every circumstance.. God is faithful in every circumstance.. God is faithful in every circumstance.. When we read this alongside the…

Read the note →

Lamentations 5:3

“We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows.”

Study Summary

We have become orphans, fatherless; our mothers are like widows—the verse uses familial imagery to describe the national condition: the people are orphaned and their mothers widowed. The loss of father figure suggests the loss of protector and provider; orphans are those without protection. Theologically, the verse presents the people as vulnerable and undefended; they are in the condition of greatest weakness. The mothers' widowhood suggests that the men are dead or taken away; the family structure is destroyed. The verse emphasizes the psychological and spiritual desolation: the basic structures of family and protection are gone. Yet the comparison to mothers and children suggests persistence; even orphans and widows exist and survive. The verse appeals to God to restore the father role; implicitly, God is the father who should protect the orphaned people.

Community Reflections

1
Lena Hoffmann (test user)7h ago
The heart of worship — Lamentations 5

Their context of persecution gives these words a weight we often miss.. God is faithful in every circumstance.. There's something deeply comforting about knowing that the same God who spoke these words is the same yesterday, today, and forever.. Today it speaks comfort; a year ago it spoke conviction.. God is faithful in every circumstance.. God is faithful in every circumstance.. God is faithful in every circumstance.. This is one of those passages that reads differently in every season of life. Now I understand why — it's a daily declaration of dependence on God.. The contrast between human weakness and divine strength is so vivid in this passage. God is faithful in every circumstance.. God is faithful in every circumstance.. God is faithful in every circumstance.. God is faithful in every circumstance.. God is faithful in every circumstance.. God is faithful in every circumstance.. When we read this alongside the…

Read the note →

Lamentations 5:3

We have become orphans, fatherless; our mothers are like widows—the verse uses familial imagery to describe the national condition: the people are orphaned and their mothers widowed. The loss of father figure suggests the loss of protector and provider; orphans are those without protection. Theologically, the verse presents the people as vulnerable and undefended; they are in the condition of greatest weakness. The mothers' widowhood suggests that the men are dead or taken away; the family structure is destroyed. The verse emphasizes the psychological and spiritual desolation: the basic structures of family and protection are gone. Yet the comparison to mothers and children suggests persistence; even orphans and widows exist and survive. The verse appeals to God to restore the father role; implicitly, God is the father who should protect the orphaned people.