New English Translation
Lamentations 5:13
13The young men perform menial labor; boys stagger from their labor.
Lamentations 5:13 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood.
- New International Version (NIV)Young men toil at the millstones; boys stagger under loads of wood.
- English Standard Version (ESV)Young men are compelled to grind at the mill, and boys stagger under loads of wood.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Young men ground at the millstones; Boys staggered under loads of wood.
Context of Lamentations 5:13
11They raped women in Zion, virgins in the towns of Judah. 12Princes were hung by their hands; elders were mistreated. The young men perform menial labor; boys stagger from their labor. 14The elders are gone from the city gate; the young men have stopped playing their music. 15Our hearts no longer have any joy; our dancing is turned to mourning.
Read all of Lamentations 5Lamentations 5:13 word by word
בַּחוּרִים֙ טְח֣וֹן נָשָׂ֔אוּ וּנְעָרִ֖ים בָּעֵ֥ץ כָּשָֽׁלוּ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Lamentations 5:13
- Exodus 11:5and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, to the firstborn son of the slave girl who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle.
- Judges 16:21The Philistines captured him and gouged out his eyes. They brought him down to Gaza and bound him in bronze chains. He became a grinder in the prison.
- Job 31:10then let my wife turn the millstone for another man, and may other men have sexual relations with her.
- Isaiah 47:2Pick up millstones and grind flour! Remove your veil, strip off your skirt, expose your legs, cross the streams!
- Exodus 1:11So they put foremen over the Israelites to oppress them with hard labor. As a result they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.
- Exodus 2:11In those days, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and observed their hard labor, and he saw an Egyptian man attacking a Hebrew man, one of his own people.
- Exodus 23:5If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen under its load, you must not ignore him, but be sure to help him with it.
- Nehemiah 5:1Then there was a great outcry from the people and their wives against their fellow Jews.
- Isaiah 58:6No, this is the kind of fast I want. I want you to remove the sinful chains, to tear away the ropes of the burdensome yoke, to set free the oppressed, and to break every burdensome yoke.
- Matthew 23:4They tie up heavy loads, hard to carry, and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing even to lift a finger to move them.
Commentaries on Lamentations 5:13
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 13They took the young men to grind - This was the work of female slaves. See the note on Isaiah 47:2.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 13They took the young men to grind - Or, “The young men” have borne the mill, a menial and laborious task usually performed by slaves (compare Isaiah 47:2). The children fell under the wood - Or, lads have stumbled under burdens of wood. By lads are meant youths up to the age of military service; another form of menial labor.Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 12-17These terrible things happened because the people had sinned (see Isaiah 24:7–12; Jeremiah 7:24; Jeremiah 13:18; Jeremiah 25:10–11; Amos 8:10).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1313. young men ... grind--The work of the lowest female slave was laid on young men (Jud 16:21; Job 31:10). children fell under ... wood--Mere children had to bear burdens of wood so heavy that they sank beneath them.Read the comment
Topics related to Lamentations 5:13
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
New English Translation — © 1996-2016 Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C.
Commentaries