Which Bible translation is shown on Lamentations 5?

This page reproduces the public-domain World English Bible Protestant edition.

How should I cite a verse in Lamentations 5?

Use the book, chapter, and verse, and name the World English Bible when the wording matters.

Lamentations 5 (WEB) — Full Text

Old Testament

Lamentations 5

1Remember, LORD, what has come on us. Look, and see our reproach.

2Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our houses to aliens.

3We are orphans and fatherless. Our mothers are as widows.

4We must pay for water to drink. Our wood is sold to us.

5Our pursuers are on our necks. We are weary, and have no rest.

6We have given our hands to the Egyptians, and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.

7Our fathers sinned, and are no more. We have borne their iniquities.

8Servants rule over us. There is no one to deliver us out of their hand.

9We get our bread at the peril of our lives, because of the sword in the wilderness.

10Our skin is black like an oven, because of the burning heat of famine.

11They ravished the women in Zion, the virgins in the cities of Judah.

12Princes were hanged up by their hands. The faces of elders were not honored.

13The young men carry millstones. The children stumbled under loads of wood.

14The elders have ceased from the gate, and the young men from their music.

15The joy of our heart has ceased. Our dance is turned into mourning.

16The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned!

17For this our heart is faint. For these things our eyes are dim:

18for the mountain of Zion, which is desolate. The foxes walk on it.

19You, LORD, remain forever. Your throne is from generation to generation.

20Why do you forget us forever, and forsake us for so long a time?

21Turn us to yourself, LORD, and we will be turned. Renew our days as of old.

22But you have utterly rejected us. You are very angry against us.

READ IN CONTEXT

Before applying this chapter

Poetic grief after Jerusalem's destruction holds devastation and hope together. Read Lamentations 5 within the complete Lamentations overview, and use the contextual Bible reading guide before forming a personal application. Chapter divisions aid navigation, but the literary unit may begin earlier or continue into the next chapter.

Observe first

Mark repeated words, changes of speaker, commands, promises, contrasts, questions, and the relationship between paragraphs.

Apply responsibly

Distinguish description from command and immediate audience from later readers before forming a personal application.

TEXT-DERIVED READING NOTES

What to notice in Lamentations 5

Lamentations 5 contains 22 verses and about 293 words in this translation. These observations come from the chapter itself; they are prompts for close reading, not claims about its only possible meaning.

The opening movement

Verse 1 begins: “Remember, LORD, what has come on us. Look, and see our reproach.” Ask what situation, voice, image, or argument this opening establishes for everything that follows.

The closing movement

Verse 22 closes: “But you have utterly rejected us. You are very angry against us.” Compare the ending with the opening and note what changed, resolved, intensified, or remained open.

Vocabulary worth tracing

Recurring or prominent content words include turned, wood, hands, bread, sinned, zion. Follow where each word appears and whether its meaning shifts with the speaker or setting.

COMMON QUESTIONS

About Lamentations 5

Which Bible translation is shown here?+

This page reproduces the World English Bible Protestant edition (WEBP), a modern-English translation dedicated to the public domain.

How should I cite a specific verse?+

Use the book, chapter, and verse—for example, Lamentations 5:1—and name the World English Bible if the wording matters. Each verse number above is a direct anchor link.

Does the chapter number define the complete literary unit?+

Not always. Chapter and verse numbers were added for navigation. Check the paragraphs, scenes, poetic stanzas, or argument before and after this chapter.