Lamentations 5:3

Lamentations 5:3 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as 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.
• New Living Translation (NLT)We are orphaned and fatherless. Our mothers are widowed.

Context of Lamentations 5:3

1Remember, Lord, what has happened to us; look, and see our disgrace. 2Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to foreigners. We have become fatherless, our mothers are widows. 4We must buy the water we drink; our wood can be had only at a price. 5Those who pursue us are at our heels; we are weary and find no 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 22:24My anger will be aroused, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives will become widows and your children fatherless.
• Jeremiah 18:21So give their children over to famine; hand them over to the power of the sword. Let their wives be made childless and widows; let their men be put to death, their young men slain by the sword in battle.
• Hosea 14:3Assyria cannot save us; we will not mount warhorses. We will never again say ‘Our gods’ to what our own hands have made, for in you the fatherless find compassion.”

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