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Lamentations Chapter 5

Old Testament Poetry 22 Verses

What is Lamentations 5 about?

Jeremiah's five funeral poems over the destruction of Jerusalem — raw grief that still trusts in God's steadfast mercies. The complete chapter text below provides the immediate literary context for study.

Text — American Standard Version (1901)

American Standard Version (1901) — public domain. For original Hebrew/Greek interlinear text, open in BibleWord.ai.
1Remember, O Jehovah, what is come upon us: Behold, and see our reproach.
2Our inheritance is turned unto strangers, Our houses unto aliens.
3We are orphans and fatherless; Our mothers are as widows.
4We have drunken our water for money; Our wood is sold unto us.
5Our pursuers are upon our necks: We are weary, and have no rest.
6We have given the hand to the Egyptians, And to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.
7Our fathers sinned, and are not; And we have borne their iniquities.
8Servants rule over us: There is none to deliver us out of their hand.
9We get our bread at the peril of our lives, Because of the sword of the wilderness.
10Our skin is black like an oven, Because of the burning heat of famine.
11They ravished the women in Zion, The virgins in the cities of Judah.
12Princes were hanged up by their hand: The faces of elders were not honored.
13The young men bare the mill; And the children stumbled under the wood.
14The elders have ceased from the gate, The young men from their music.
15The joy of our heart is ceased; Our dance is turned into mourning.
16The crown is fallen from our head: Woe unto us! for we have sinned.
17For this our heart is faint; For these things our eyes are dim;
18For the mountain of Zion, which is desolate: The foxes walk upon it.
19Thou, O Jehovah, abidest for ever; Thy throne is from generation to generation.
20Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, [And] forsake us so long time?
21Turn thou us unto thee, O Jehovah, and we shall be turned; Renew our days as of old.
22But thou hast utterly rejected us; Thou art very wroth against us.
← Lamentations 4

What do historical commentaries say about this chapter?

John Gill's Exposition
John Gill (1697–1771) · Exposition of the Old and New Testament · on verse 1
“Remember, O Lord, what is come upon us, etc.] This chapter is called, in some Greek copies, and in the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions, “the prayer of Jeremiah”. Cocceius interprets the whole of the state of the Christian church after the last destruction of Jerusalem; and of what happened to the disciples of Christ in the first times of the Gospel; and of what Christians have endured under antichrist down to the present times: but it is best to understand it of the Jews in Babylon; representing their sorrowful case, as represented by the prophet; entreating that the Lord would remember the affliction…”
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Jamieson, Fausset & Brown
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible · on verse 1
“EPIPHONEMA, OR A CLOSING RECAPITULATION OF THE CALAMITIES TREATED IN THE PREVIOUS ELEGIES. (Lam. 5:1-22) (Psa 89:50-51).”
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Barnes' Notes
Albert Barnes (1798–1870) · Notes on the Whole Bible · on verse 1
“What is come upon us - literally, “what” has happened “to us:” our national disgrace. return to 'Top of Page'”
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Wesley's Explanatory Notes
John Wesley (1703–1791) · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament and Old Testament notes · on verse 3
“We - We are all of us without a king, (our common father) we are deprived of thy fatherly protection, and many young children among us are left without an earthly parent. Lamentations 5:4”
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Tyndale Open Study Notes
Tyndale House Publishers · Tyndale Open Study Notes · on verse 1
“5:1-22 This chapter is a heartfelt prayer for restoration (cp. Dan 9:4-19).”
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Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge
R. A. Torrey and contributors · The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge · on verse 1
“Remember: Lam 1:20, Lam 2:20, Lam 3:19; Neh 1:8; Job 7:7, Job 10:9; Jer 15:15; Hab 3:2; Luk 23:42 behold: Lam 2:15, Lam 3:61; Neh 1:3, Neh 4:4; Psa 44:13-16, Psa 74:10, Psa 74:11, Psa 79:4, Psa 79:12, Psa 89:50, Psa 89:51; Psa 123:3, Psa 123:4 Lamentations 5:2”
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Keil & Delitzsch
C. F. Keil & F. Delitzsch · Commentary on the Old Testament · on verse 1
“Supplication and statement regarding the distress. The quest made in Lam 5:1 refers to the oppression depicted in what follows. The words, "Remember, O Lord, what hath happened (i.e., befallen) us," are more fully explained in the second member, "Look and behold our disgrace." It is quite arbitrary in Thenius to refer the first member to the past, the second to the present, described in what follows, Lam 5:12-16. The Qeri הבּיטה is an unnecessary alteration, after Lam 1:11; Lam 3:63. \- With Lam 5:2 begins the description of the disgrace that has befallen them. This consists, first of all, in the fact that their…”
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