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

1Lord, please remember the trouble that has happened to us. Look at us, because we are ashamed. 2Strangers have taken the land that our ancestors gave to us. Foreign people live in our homes. We are children whose fathers have died. Our mothers no longer have husbands. 4We must pay money for the water that we drink. We must buy wood for our fires. 5Our enemies cause us to work like animals. But the work is too difficult and they will not let us rest.

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 22:24I will be very angry with you. I will kill you in war. Your wives will become widows. Your children will no longer have any family.
• Jeremiah 18:21So now I ask you to punish them! Yes, may famine kill their children. May they die in war. May wives no longer have husbands or children. May disease kill the old men. May the young men die in battle.
• Hosea 14:3Assyria cannot save us. The horses that we ride into war will not keep us safe. We will never again say to the idols that we have made, “You are our gods.” You are kind to children who have no family. So please be kind to us.’

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