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

9Jerusalem’s own filth ⌞covers⌟ its clothes. It gave no thought to its future. Its downfall was shocking. No one offers it comfort. ‘O Lord, look at my suffering, because my enemies have triumphed.’ 10The enemies laid their hands on all of the city’s treasures. Jerusalem has seen the nations enter the holy place. ‘O Lord, they are the same people you have forbidden to enter your congregation.’ All the people are groaning as they beg for bread. They trade their treasures for food to keep themselves alive. ‘O Lord, look and see how despised I am!’ ” 12“Doesn’t this affect all of you who pass by? Look and see if there’s any pain like the pain that the Lord has caused me, like the pain that he has made me suffer on the day of his fierce anger. 13He sent fire from above. He made it go deep into my bones. He spread a net for my feet. He made me turn back. He has left me devastated. He has made me sick all 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 called for those who love me, but they betrayed me. My priests and leaders breathed their last breath in the city, looking for food to keep themselves alive.
• Lamentations 2:12They’re asking their mothers for some bread and wine as they faint like wounded people in the city streets. Their lives dwindle away in their mothers’ arms.
• Lamentations 4:4The tongues of nursing infants stick to the roofs of their mouths because of their thirst. Little children beg for bread, but no one will break off a piece for them.
• Deuteronomy 28:52They will blockade all your cities until the high, fortified walls in which you trust come down everywhere in your land. They’ll blockade all the cities everywhere in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
• 2 Kings 6:25The shortages caused by the blockade of Samaria became so severe that a donkey’s head sold for two pounds of silver and a half-pint of dove manure for two ounces of silver.
• Jeremiah 19:9I will make the people eat the flesh of their sons and daughters. They will eat each other’s flesh during blockades and hardships that their enemies impose on them when they want to kill them.”
• Jeremiah 38:9“Your Majesty, everything that these men have done to the prophet Jeremiah is wrong. They have thrown him into the cistern, where he’ll starve to death, because there’s no more bread in the city.”
• Jeremiah 52:6On the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine in the city became so severe that the common people had no food.
• Ezekiel 4:15He said to me, “I will let you use cow manure in place of human excrement. Bake your bread over it.”
• Ezekiel 5:16When I shoot my destructive arrows of famine at you, I will shoot to kill you. I will bring more and more famines into your land, and I will cut off your food supply.
• 1 Samuel 30:11David’s men found an Egyptian in the open country and took him to David. They gave him food to eat and water to drink.
• Lamentations 1:9Jerusalem’s own filth ⌞covers⌟ its clothes. It gave no thought to its future. Its downfall was shocking. No one offers it comfort. ‘O Lord, look at my suffering, because my enemies have triumphed.’
• Lamentations 2:20“O Lord, look and consider: Have you ever treated anyone like this? Should women eat their own children, the children they have nursed? Should priests and prophets be killed in the Lord’s holy place?
• Job 40:4“I’m so insignificant. How can I answer you? I will put my hand over my mouth.
• Psalms 25:15My eyes are always on the Lord. He removes my feet from traps.

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