Berean Standard Bible
Lamentations 5:4
4We must buy the water we drink; our wood comes at a price.
Lamentations 5:4 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)We have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold unto us.
- New International Version (NIV)We must buy the water we drink; our wood can be had only at a price.
- English Standard Version (ESV)We must pay for the water we drink; the wood we get must be bought.
- New King James Version (NKJV)We pay for the water we drink, And our wood comes at a price.
Context of Lamentations 5:4
2Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our houses to foreigners. 3We have become fatherless orphans; our mothers are widows. We must buy the water we drink; our wood comes at a price. 5We are closely pursued; we are weary and find no rest. 6We submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough bread.
Read all of Lamentations 5Lamentations 5:4 word by word
מֵימֵ֙ינוּ֙ בְּכֶ֣סֶף שָׁתִ֔ינוּ עֵצֵ֖ינוּ בִּמְחִ֥יר יָבֹֽאוּ׃Read the interlinear
Cross-references for Lamentations 5:4
- Deuteronomy 28:48you will serve your enemies the LORD will send against you in famine, thirst, nakedness, and destitution. He will place an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you.
- Isaiah 3:1For behold, the Lord GOD of Hosts is about to remove from Jerusalem and Judah both supply and support: the whole supply of food and water,
- Ezekiel 4:9But take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt; put them in a single container and make them into bread for yourself. This is what you are to eat during the 390 days you lie on your side.
Commentaries on Lamentations 5:4
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 4We have drunken our water for money - I suppose the meaning of this is, that every thing was taxed by the Chaldeans, and that they kept the management in their own hands, so that wood and water were both sold, the people not being permitted to help themselves. They were now so lowly reduced by servitude, that they were obliged to pay dearly for those things which formerly were common and of no price. A poor Hindoo in the country never buys fire-wood, but…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 4Better as in the margin cometh to us for price. The rendering of the the King James Version spoils the carefully studied rhythm of the original. The bitterness of the complaint lies in this, that it was their own property which they had to buy.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. 44. water for money--The Jews were compelled to pay the enemy for the water of their own cisterns after the overthrow of Jerusalem; or rather, it refers to their sojourn in Babylon; they had to pay tax for access to the rivers and fountains. Thus, "our" means the water which we need, the commonest necessary of life. our wood--In Judea each one could get wood without pay; in Babylon, "our wood," the wood we need, must be paid for.Read the comment
Topics related to Lamentations 5:4
In the dictionaries
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
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