Lamentations 5 · Verse 13

Lamentations 5:13

They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood.
Lamentations 5:13, King James Version

Lamentations 5:13 in other translations

BSBYoung men toil at millstones; boys stagger under loads of wood.
WEBThe young men carry millstones. The children stumbled under loads of wood.
ASVThe young men bare the mill; And the children stumbled under the wood.
YLTYoung men to grind they have taken, And youths with wood have stumbled.
DARBYThe young men have borne the mill, and the youths have stumbled under the wood.
BBEThe young men were crushing the grain, and the boys were falling under the wood.
WebsterThey took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood.

What does Lamentations 5:13 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
13. young men ... grind--The work of the lowest female slave was laid on young men (Jud 16:21; Job 31:10). children fell under ... wood--Mere children had to bear burdens of wood so heavy that they sank beneath them.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 13 They took the young men to grind - This was the work of female slaves. See the note on Isa 47:2.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Lamentations 5:1-16

The Jewish nation supplicating the Divine favour. Verses 1-16 Is any afflicted? Let him pray; and let him in prayer pour out his complaint to God. The people of God do so here; they complain not of evils feared, but of evils felt. If penitent and patient under what we suffer for the sins of our fathers, we may expect that He who punishes, will return in mercy to us. They acknowledge, Woe unto us that we have sinned!…

Read the full comment on Lamentations 5:1-16 →

Lamentations 5:13 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

בַּחוּרִים֙ba.chu.Rimyoung menH970
טְח֣וֹןte.Chona millH2911
נָשָׂ֔אוּna.Sa.'uthey have liftedH5375
וּנְעָרִ֖יםu.ne.'a.Rimand young menH5288
בָּעֵ֥ץba.'Etzwith <the> woodH6086
כָּשָֽׁלוּ\׃ka.Sha.luthey have staggeredH3782

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Lamentations 5:13

  • Judges 16:21

    But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house.

  • Matthew 23:4

    For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.

  • Isaiah 47:2

    Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers.

  • Exodus 23:5

    If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him.

  • Nehemiah 5:1-5

    And there was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren the Jews. For there were that said, We, our sons, and our daughters, are many: therefore we take up corn for them, that we may eat, and live. Some also there were that said, We have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses, that we might buy corn, because of the dearth. There were also that said, We have borrowed money for the king’s tribute, and that upon our lands and vineyards. …

  • Job 31:10

    Then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her.

  • Exodus 1:11

    Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.

  • Isaiah 58:6

    Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?

  • Exodus 2:11

    And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren.

  • Exodus 11:5

    And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of beasts.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
the young.
Ex 11:5; Jud 16:21; Job 31:10; Isa 47:2
fell.
Ex 1:11; 2:11; 23:5; Ne 5:1-5; Isa 58:6; Mt 23:4

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Lamentations 5:12

    Princes are hanged up by their hand: the faces of elders were not honoured.

  • Lamentations 5:13

    They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood.

  • Lamentations 5:14

    The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their musick.

Read all of Lamentations 5

Lamentations 5:13 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Llevaron los mozos á moler, y los muchachos desfallecieron en la leña.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Les jeunes gens ont porté les meules, et les jeunes garçons ont trébuché sous le bois.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Jünglinge tragen die Handmühle, und Knaben straucheln unter dem Holze.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Adolescentibus impudice abusi sunt, et pueri in ligno corruerunt.