Lamentations 5:4

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 King James Version (NKJV)We pay for the water we drink, And our wood comes at a price.

Context of Lamentations 5:4

2Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens. 3We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows. We have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold unto us. 5Our necks are under persecution: we labour, and have no rest. 6We have given the hand to the Egyptians, and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.

Lamentations 5:4 word by word

מֵימֵ֙ינוּ֙ בְּכֶ֣סֶף שָׁתִ֔ינוּ עֵצֵ֖ינוּ בִּמְחִ֥יר יָבֹֽאוּ׃Read the interlinear

• We have drunkenשָׁתָהshâthâh · to drinkH8354
• our waterמַיmayim · waterH4325
• for moneyכֶּ֫סֶףkeseph · silver: priceH3701
• our woodעֵץ‛êts · tree: woodH6086
• is soldמְחִירmechîyr · priceH4242
• is soldבּוֹאbô' · to come (in): bringH935

Cross-references for Lamentations 5:4

• Deuteronomy 28:48Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which Yhwh shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee.
• Isaiah 3:1For, behold, the Lord, Yhwh of Armies, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water,
• Ezekiel 4:9Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof, according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side, three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat thereof.

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

• Famine
• Money
• Patriotism

In the dictionaries

• Crown
• Drink
• Persecution
• Acrostic
• Lamentations, Book of
• Poetry, Hebrew
• Water

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