Lamentations Chapter 5
Lamentations 5
From Desolation, Hope for Restoration
Lamentations 5:1-8, Zion’s Great Misery
Lamentations 5:1-8, “Remember, O LORD, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach. Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens. We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows. We have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold unto us. Our necks are under persecution: we labour, and have no rest. We have given the hand to the Egyptians, and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread. Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities. Servants have ruled over us: there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand.”
Lamentations 5 begins as a prayer. The people cry, “Remember, O LORD.” The LORD had not truly forgotten them, but from inside their suffering it felt as though He had. They ask Him to consider and behold their reproach. Their shame is public, and they bring it before God.
Their inheritance has been turned over to strangers, and their houses to aliens. The land God gave to Israel is now controlled by foreigners. The homes where families once lived are now occupied or possessed by others. This is covenant loss. They have not merely lost property. They have lost the visible inheritance connected to God’s promises.
They have become orphans and fatherless, and their mothers are like widows. This describes the social devastation after war, death, and exile. Families are shattered. Fathers are gone. Mothers are left vulnerable. Children are exposed.
They must pay for water and wood. Things that once belonged to their normal life in the land are now controlled by others. They are taxed and exploited for basic survival. Water and firewood, ordinary necessities, have become burdens.
Their necks are under persecution. They labor and have no rest. This is the reversal of covenant blessing. Instead of rest in the land, they are exhausted under servitude.
They gave the hand to Egyptians and Assyrians to be satisfied with bread. Judah had long looked to foreign powers for help instead of trusting the LORD. Now those same powers cannot save them. Former alliances have become evidence of false trust.
They confess, “Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities.” This reflects the generational consequences of sin. Earlier generations sinned, but the present generation suffers the accumulated judgment. Yet this does not remove their own guilt, because the chapter will later confess, “Woe unto us, that we have sinned.”
Servants rule over them, and there is no deliverer. The order of society has been overturned. Those who were once low now rule over Judah, and no human power can rescue them.
Lamentations 5:9-16a, More of Zion’s Misery
Lamentations 5:9-16a, “We gat our bread with the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness. Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine. They ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah. Princes are hanged up by their hand: the faces of elders were not honoured. They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood. The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their musick. The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning. The crown is fallen from our head:”
The misery continues. They get bread at the risk of their lives because of the sword of the wilderness. Even finding food is dangerous. Survival itself has become perilous.
Their skin is black like an oven because of terrible famine. Starvation marks the body. The suffering of the siege and aftermath is visible on their skin.
The women in Zion and the maids in the cities of Judah have been ravished. The horror of conquest includes sexual violence. Lamentations does not hide the brutality of war. It brings the shame, grief, and violation before God.
Princes are hanged by their hand. Elders are not honored. The leaders and dignified men of society are degraded. Authority and honor collapse.
Young men are forced to grind, and children fall under loads of wood. Grinding grain was normally lowly labor, often assigned to servants or women. Young men who should have been strong defenders are reduced to forced labor. Children are crushed under burdens too heavy for them.
The elders have ceased from the gate. The city gate was the place of judgment, counsel, civic order, and leadership. Its silence means the social structure has collapsed.
The young men have ceased from their music. Joy is gone. Celebration is gone. The ordinary sounds of life have disappeared.
“The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning.” This sentence summarizes the emotional state of the people. Judah’s joy has died. The dance has become grief.
“The crown is fallen from our head.” This is the collapse of royal dignity, national honor, and covenant privilege. Judah is no longer standing as a crowned kingdom. She is humiliated under judgment.
Lamentations 5:16b-18, The Cause of Zion’s Desolation
Lamentations 5:16b-18, “woe unto us, that we have sinned! For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim. Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it.”
The confession is simple and direct: “woe unto us, that we have sinned!” This is the spiritual center of the chapter. The people do not merely say, “Woe unto us, because Babylon came.” They say, “Woe unto us, that we have sinned.”
This is the proper response to chastening. The suffering is real, but the sin is the root. The ruin of Jerusalem is not explained only by politics, economics, military weakness, or Babylonian cruelty. It is explained by sin against the LORD.
Because of this, their heart is faint and their eyes are dim. Inner strength is gone. Vision is clouded by grief.
Mount Zion is desolate, and foxes walk upon it. Zion, once the place of worship, glory, songs, priests, sacrifices, and feasts, is now so abandoned that wild animals roam there. The holy mountain looks deserted.
The desolation of Zion proves that outward religion cannot protect a people who persist in rebellion. Sacred places are not charms. The LORD Himself is the refuge, and Judah had forsaken Him.
Lamentations 5:19-20, Praying for the Everlasting God to Remember His People
Lamentations 5:19-20, “Thou, O LORD, remainest for ever; thy throne from generation to generation. Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time?”
After describing the devastation, the prayer turns upward. “Thou, O LORD, remainest for ever.” Everything visible has collapsed. Jerusalem’s walls are broken, the temple is burned, the monarchy is fallen, the people are scattered, and joy is gone. But the LORD remains forever.
His throne is from generation to generation. Earthly thrones rise and fall. Zedekiah’s throne fell. Babylon’s throne would fall. But God’s throne remains.
This is the foundation of hope. The people’s situation has changed, but God has not changed. Their covenant condition is under discipline, but God’s eternal reign is undiminished.
Yet the prayer remains honest: “Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time?” They know God reigns forever, but they feel forgotten. They know His throne endures, but their suffering feels prolonged.
Lamentations holds both truths together. God is eternal and sovereign. The people are still in anguish and feel forsaken. Faith does not require pretending the pain is gone. It brings the pain before the eternal throne.
Lamentations 5:21-22, Praying for Restoration
Lamentations 5:21-22, “Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old. But thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth against us.”
The final prayer is one of the most important prayers in the book: “Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned.” The people need more than changed circumstances. They need God to turn their hearts back to Himself.
This is a prayer for repentance as a gift. They do not say, “We will fix ourselves.” They ask God to turn them. True restoration begins when God brings His people back to Himself.
“Renew our days as of old.” They long for restored fellowship, restored worship, restored joy, restored covenant life, and restored blessing. But renewal must begin with turning to the LORD.
The final verse is heavy: “But thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth against us.” The book does not end with easy resolution. It ends with grief still unresolved and with the fear that God’s anger remains.
Yet Scripture makes clear that this fear was not the final word. God had not utterly rejected His people forever. He promised return after exile.
Jeremiah 29:10, “For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.”
The prayer of Lamentations 5 therefore ends in anguish, but not unbelief. The people still pray to the LORD. They still ask Him to turn them. They still ask Him to renew them. Even their grief is directed toward God.
The book ends where restoration must begin: with the LORD turning His people back to Himself.
Doctrinal and Practical Notes
Lamentations 5 teaches that the people of God should bring their reproach directly before the LORD.
Lamentations 5 teaches that sin can result in the loss of inheritance, homes, stability, family order, and civic life.
Lamentations 5 teaches that generational sin has consequences, but the present generation must also confess its own guilt.
Lamentations 5 teaches that war and judgment bring social collapse: women violated, princes humiliated, elders dishonored, young men enslaved, and children burdened.
Lamentations 5 teaches that joy can cease when sin brings judgment. The dance turns into mourning.
Lamentations 5 teaches that honest lament must include confession: “Woe unto us, that we have sinned.”
Lamentations 5 teaches that God remains forever even when everything earthly collapses.
Lamentations 5 teaches that God’s throne endures from generation to generation.
Lamentations 5 teaches that true repentance requires God’s grace. “Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned.”
Lamentations 5 teaches that restoration is more than returning to land or comfort. It begins with returning to the LORD.
Summary
Lamentations 5 is the final prayer of the book, moving from desolation toward hope for restoration. The people ask the LORD to remember what has come upon them and behold their reproach. Their inheritance has been turned over to strangers, their houses to aliens, and they have become orphans and fatherless, with mothers like widows. They must pay for water and wood, labor without rest, and seek bread from foreign powers that cannot truly save.
The people suffer under dangerous conditions. They get bread at the risk of their lives, their skin is blackened by famine, women and maidens are violated, princes are hanged, elders dishonored, young men forced to grind, and children crushed under burdens. Civic life collapses: elders no longer gather at the gate, young men no longer make music, joy ceases, dancing turns to mourning, and the crown falls from Judah’s head.
The cause is confessed clearly: “Woe unto us, that we have sinned.” Because of sin, hearts are faint, eyes are dim, and Mount Zion is desolate, with foxes walking upon it.
Yet the prayer turns to the everlasting LORD. He remains forever, and His throne endures from generation to generation. The people ask why He seems to forget and forsake them so long.
The final plea is for restoration: “Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.” The book ends with the anguish of feeling utterly rejected and under God’s wrath, but the prayer itself shows that hope remains. The people still cry to the LORD, and their only hope is that He would turn them back to Himself.
