Lamentations 5

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Lamentations 5

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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!

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

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

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

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.

Notes

Cross Reference

Concordance

Commentary

Rashi

Verse 4

<html>We pay to drink our own water. Since we were afraid to draw water from the river because of the enemies, we bought [water] from them with money.¹Alternatively, ‘we are accustomed to drink from silver cups, and now we even have to pay to drink from wooden cups. (Yalkut Me’am Lo’ez) </html>

Verse 5

<html>We are hounded around our necks. Because of the yoke of hard labor. We exhaust ourselves. To gather money and property. But nothing remains for us. [Of] our toil in our hands, because the enemies would collect and seize everything for taxes, head taxes, and property taxes.²Alternatively, ‘and we were given no rest [ולא הונח לנו].’ </html>

Verse 6

<html>Toward Egypt we extended a hand [for assistance]. It is customary for a person who is falling and wishes to stand up to stretch out a hand to someone nearby to help him. Here too, we stretched out a hand to Egypt that they should help us.³Alternatively, Egypt gave us their hand[shake], i.e., an expression of making an oath, that they would assist us. (Ibn Ezra) [Toward] Ashur. That they sate us with their bread. We extended [a hand]. נָתַנּוּ is] the same as נָתַנְנוּ. The dagesh in the nun takes the place of the second nun, as in, “for all is from You, and from Your hand we have given נָתַנּוּ it to You,”⁴I Divrei Hayomim 29:14. and as in, “and we will give וְנָתַנּוּ our daughters to you.”⁵Bereishis 34:16. </html>

Verse 9

<html>We gain our bread at the risk of our lives. With our life in jeopardy. We were in danger when we would bring our food from the field because of the sword of the wilderness.</html>

Verse 10

<html>Inflamed. Became heated, as in, “for his mercies were aroused נִכְמְרוּ”;⁶Ibid. 43:30. and in the language of the Gemara there are many instances, “a heating vessel כּוֹמֶר of grapes”;⁷Maseches Yevamos 97a. “the heating מִכְמָר of the flesh.”⁸Maseches Pesachim 58a. Burning hunger. As in, “and a burning זִלְעָפוֹת wind,”⁹Tehilim 11:6. an expression of burning. </html>

Verse 13

<html>Encumbered with millstones. When the enemies led them away in neck irons, they would place on their shoulders millstones and burdens in order to tire them.¹⁰Alternatively, ‘youths were forced to grind wheat,’ a task which drains their strength. (Ibn Ezra) And similarly, “[and boys] staggered with beams,” [meaning that] their strength failed. The expression of staggering כִּשְׁלוֹן applies to the weakening of strength, as is stated in Ezra, “And Yehudah said, ‘the strength of the bearer has failed,’”¹¹Nechemyah 4:4. and similarly, “He has caused my strength to fail.”¹²Eichah 1:14. </html>

Verse 17

<html>For this our hearts ached, etc. Because of that which is delineated in the verse following, “Over Mount Tzion, which was devastated [and] foxes meandered over it.”¹³Below, verse 18. Our hearts ache only for the destruction of Mount Tzion, and nothing else. (Palgei Mayim) </html>

Verse 19

<html>Adonoy, You. We know that You will remain forever. And because that is so… </html>

Verse 20

<html>Why [then O Eternal] do You forget us. Have You not sworn to us Yourself that just as You exist, so does Your oath exist? </html>

Verse 22

<html>For although You may have considered us contemptible. Although we have sinned, [nonetheless] You should not have been angered as much as You have been. Adonoy return us. Because he concludes with words of reproof, he had to repeat the preceding verse again,¹⁴In order to end on a note of consolation. and so did Yeshayahu, Trei Osor, and Koheles.</html>

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Table of Contents

Lamentations 5

Lamentations 5

Notes

Cross Reference

Concordance

Commentary

Rashi

Verse 4

Verse 5

Verse 6

Verse 9

Verse 10

Verse 13

Verse 17

Verse 19

Verse 20

Verse 22