Lamentations 5:3

Lamentations 5:3 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows.
• New International Version (NIV)We have become fatherless, our mothers are widows.
• English Standard Version (ESV)We have become orphans, fatherless; our mothers are like widows.
• New King James Version (NKJV)We have become orphans and waifs, Our mothers are like widows.

Context of Lamentations 5:3

1O Lord, remember what has come upon us; Look, and see our reproach (national disgrace)! 2Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, Our houses to foreigners. We have become orphans without a father; Our mothers are like widows. 4We have to pay for our drinking water; Our wood comes to us at a price. 5Our pursuers are at our necks; We are worn out, there is no rest for us.

Lamentations 5:3 word by word

יְתוֹמִ֤ים הָיִ֙ינוּ֙ וְאֵ֣ין אָ֔ב אִמֹּתֵ֖ינוּ כְּאַלְמָנֽוֹת׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• We are orphansיָתוֹםyâthôm · orphanH3490
• and fatherlessאָב'âb · fatherH1
• and fatherlessאַ֫יִן'ayin · nothingH369
• our mothersאֵם'êm · motherH517
• as widowsאַלְמָנָה'almânâh · widowH490

Cross-references for Lamentations 5:3

• Exodus 22:24and My wrath shall be kindled and burn; I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.
• Jeremiah 18:21Therefore, give their children over to the famine; Give them over to the power of the sword. And let their wives become childless and widowed; Let their men meet death [by virulent disease], Their young men be struck down by the sword in battle.
• Hosea 14:3Assyria will not save us; We will not ride on horses [relying on military might], Nor will we say again to [the idols who are] the work of our hands, ‘You are our gods.’ For in You [O Lord] the orphan finds love and compassion and mercy.”

Commentaries on Lamentations 5:3

• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 3Our mothers are as widows - The particle “as” suggests that the whole verse is metaphorical. Our distress and desolation is comparable only to that of fatherless orphans or wives just bereaved of their husbands.Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 1-22This chapter is a sincere prayer asking for restoration (compare Daniel 9:4–19).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 33. fatherless--Our whole land is full of orphans [Calvin]. Or, "we are fatherless," being abandoned by Thee our "Father" (Jr 3:19), [Grotius].Read the comment

Topics related to Lamentations 5:3

• Orphan
• Patriotism

In the dictionaries

• Crown
• Orphans
• Persecution
• Acrostic
• Fatherless
• Lamentations, Book of
• Orphan
• Poetry, Hebrew

Commentaries on Lamentations 5

• 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
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings