English Standard Version
Lamentations 5:4
4We must pay for the water we drink; the wood we get must be bought.
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.
- New King James Version (NKJV)We pay for the water we drink, And our wood comes at a price.
- New Living Translation (NLT)We have to pay for water to drink, and even firewood is expensive.
Context of Lamentations 5:4
2Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to foreigners. 3We have become orphans, fatherless; our mothers are like widows. We must pay for the water we drink; the wood we get must be bought. 5Our pursuers are at our necks; we are weary; we are given no rest. 6We have given the hand to Egypt, and to Assyria, to get bread enough.
Read all of Lamentations 5Lamentations 5:4 word by word
מֵימֵ֙ינוּ֙ בְּכֶ֣סֶף שָׁתִ֔ינוּ עֵצֵ֖ינוּ בִּמְחִ֥יר יָבֹֽאוּ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Lamentations 5:4
- Deuteronomy 28:48therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness, and lacking everything. And he will put a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you.
- Isaiah 3:1For behold, the Lord God of hosts is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah support and supply, all support of bread, and all support of water;
- Ezekiel 4:9"And you, take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and emmer, and put them into a single vessel and make your bread from them. During the number of days that you lie on your side, 390 days, you shall eat it.
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
English Standard Version — © 2001 Crossway Bibles
Commentaries