Lamentations 1:11

Lamentations 1:11 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)All her people sigh, they seek bread; they have given their pleasant things for meat to relieve the soul: see, O Lord, and consider; for I am become vile.
• New International Version (NIV)All her people groan as they search for bread; they barter their treasures for food to keep themselves alive. “Look, Lord, and consider, for I am despised.”
• English Standard Version (ESV)All her people groan as they search for bread; they trade their treasures for food to revive their strength. "Look, O Lord, and see, for I am despised."
• New King James Version (NKJV)All her people sigh, They seek bread; They have given their valuables for food to restore life. “See, O Lord, and consider, For I am scorned.”

Context of Lamentations 1:11

9Her (ceremonial) uncleanness was on her skirts; She did not [seriously] consider her future. Therefore she has come down [from throne to slavery] in an astonishing manner; She has no comforter. “O Lord” [cries Jerusalem], “look at my affliction, For the enemy has magnified himself [in triumph]!” 10The adversary has spread out his hand Over all her precious and desirable things; For she has seen the [Gentile] nations enter her sanctuary (the Jerusalem temple)— The ones whom You commanded That they should not enter into Your congregation [not even in the outer courts]. All her people groan, seeking bread; They have exchanged their desirable and precious things for food To restore their lives. “See, O Lord, and consider How despised and repulsive I have become!” 12“Is it nothing to you, all you who pass this way? Look and see if there is any pain like my pain Which was severely dealt out to me, Which the Lord has inflicted [on me] on the day of His fierce anger. 13From on high He sent fire into my bones, And it prevailed over them. He has spread a net for my feet; He has turned me back. He has made me desolate and hopelessly miserable, Faint all the day long.

Lamentations 1:11 word by word

כָּל־עַמָּ֤הּ נֶאֱנָחִים֙ מְבַקְּשִׁ֣ים לֶ֔חֶם נָתְנ֧וּ מַחֲמַדֵּיהֶ֛ם בְּאֹ֖כֶל לְהָשִׁ֣יב נָ֑פֶשׁ רְאֵ֤ה יְהוָה֙ וְֽהַבִּ֔יטָה כִּ֥י הָיִ֖יתִי זוֹלֵלָֽה׃ סRead the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• All her peopleעַם‛am · peopleH5971
• sighאָנַח'ânach · to sighH584
• they seekבָּקַשׁbâqash · to seekH1245
• breadלֶ֫חֶםlechem · food: breadH3899
• they have givenנָתַןnâthan · to give: giveH5414
• their pleasant thingsמַחְמֹדmachmûd machmûd · desirableH4262
• their pleasant thingsמַחְמָדmachmâd · desireH4261
• for meatאֹ֫כֶל'ôkel · foodH400
• to relieveשׁוּבshûb · to return: rescueH7725
• the soulנֶ֫פֶשׁnephesh · soul: lifeH5315
• seeרָאָהrâ'âh · to see: seeH7200
• O Lordיְהֹוָהyehôvâh · LORDH3068
• and considerנָבַטnâbaţ · to lookH5027
• for I am become vileזָלַלzâlal · be vileH2151

Cross-references for Lamentations 1:11

• Lamentations 1:19I [Jerusalem] called to my lovers (political allies), but they deceived me. My priests and my elders perished in the city While they looked for food to restore their strength.
• Lamentations 2:12They cry to their mothers, “Where is grain and wine?” As they faint like a wounded man In the streets of the city, As their life [slips away and] is poured out In their mothers’ arms.
• Lamentations 4:4The tongue of the infant clings To the roof of its mouth because of thirst; The little ones ask for food, But no one gives it to them.
• Deuteronomy 28:52They will besiege you in all your cities until your high and fortified walls in which you trusted come down throughout your land; and they will besiege you in all your cities throughout your land which the Lord your God has given you.
• 2 Kings 6:25Now there was a great famine in Samaria; and they besieged it until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a fourth of a kab of dove’s dung for five shekels of silver.
• Jeremiah 19:9And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters, and each one will eat one another’s flesh during the siege and distress brought by their enemies and those who seek their lives.” ’
• Jeremiah 38:9“My lord the king, these men have acted wickedly in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet whom they have thrown into the cistern; and he will die [of hunger] where he is because of the famine, for there is no more bread in the city.”
• Jeremiah 52:6In the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.
• Ezekiel 4:15Then He said to me, “See, I will let you use cow’s dung instead of human dung over which you shall prepare your food.”
• Ezekiel 5:16When I send against them the deadly arrows of hunger which were for the destruction of those whom I will send to destroy you, then I will increase the famine upon you and break your staff of bread.
• 1 Samuel 30:11They found an Egyptian [who had collapsed] in the field and brought him to David, and gave him bread and he ate, and they gave him water to drink,
• Lamentations 1:9Her (ceremonial) uncleanness was on her skirts; She did not [seriously] consider her future. Therefore she has come down [from throne to slavery] in an astonishing manner; She has no comforter. “O Lord” [cries Jerusalem], “look at my affliction, For the enemy has magnified himself [in triumph]!”
• Lamentations 2:20See, O Lord, and look! With whom have You dealt this way? Should women eat their offspring, The little ones who were born healthy and beautiful? Should priest and prophet be killed In the sanctuary of the Lord?
• Job 40:4“Behold, I am of little importance and contemptible; what can I reply to You? I lay my hand on my mouth.
• Psalms 25:15My eyes are continually toward the Lord, For He will bring my feet out of the net.

Commentaries on Lamentations 1:11

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 11They have given their pleasant things - Jerusalem is compared to a woman brought into great straits, who parts with her jewels and trinkets in order to purchase by them the necessaries of life.Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 11Sigh … seek - Are sighing … are seeking. The words are present participles, describing the condition of the people. After a siege lasting a year and a half the whole country, far and near, would be exhausted. To relieve the soul - See the margin, i. e. to bring back life to them. They bring out their jewels and precious articles to obtain with them at least a meal.Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 1-22Chapter 1 mourns the destruction and desolation of Jerusalem, recognizing that this was God’s well-deserved judgment on Israel’s sins.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1111. (Jr 37:21; 38:9; 52:6). given ... pleasant things for meat--(2Ki 6:25; Job 2:4). relieve ... soul--literally, "to cause the soul or life to return." for I am become vile--Her sins and consequent sorrows are made the plea in craving God's mercy. Compare the like plea in Psa 25:11. Lamed.Read the comment

Topics related to Lamentations 1:11

• Afflictions and Adversities
• Famine

In the dictionaries

• Faint
• Poetry
• Acrostic
• Alphabet
• Lamentations, Book of
• Poetry, Hebrew
• Proverbs, the Book of
• torment, tormented, tormentor

Commentaries on Lamentations 1

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings