New King James Version
Lamentations 5:4
4We pay for the water we drink, And our wood comes at a price.
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.
- English Standard Version (ESV)We must pay for the water we drink; the wood we get must be bought.
- 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 aliens, And our houses to foreigners. 3We have become orphans and waifs, Our mothers are like widows. We pay for the water we drink, And our wood comes at a price. 5They pursue at our heels; We labor and have no rest. 6We have given our hand to the Egyptians And the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.
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, in thirst, in nakedness, and in need of everything; and He will put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has destroyed you.
- Isaiah 3:1For behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, Takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah The stock and the store, The whole supply of bread and the whole supply of water;
- Ezekiel 4:9“Also take for yourself wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt; put them into one vessel, and make bread of them for yourself. During the number of days that you lie on your side, three hundred and ninety 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
New King James Version — © 1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc
Commentaries