Lamentations 5:3

Lamentations 5:3 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows.
• New International Version (NIV)We have become fatherless, our mothers are 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.

Context of Lamentations 5:3

1Lord, remember what has happened to us. See how we have been disgraced! 2Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to foreigners. We are orphaned and fatherless. Our mothers are widowed. 4We have to pay for water to drink, and even firewood is expensive. 5Those who pursue us are at our heels; we are exhausted but are given 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 blaze against you, and I will kill you with the sword. Then your wives will be widows and your children fatherless.
• Jeremiah 18:21So let their children starve! Let them die by the sword! Let their wives become childless widows. Let their old men die in a plague, and let their young men be killed in battle!
• Hosea 14:3Assyria cannot save us, nor can our warhorses. Never again will we say to the idols we have made, ‘You are our gods.’ No, in you alone do the orphans find mercy.”

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