Lamentations 5 · Verse 4

Lamentations 5:4

We have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold unto us.
Lamentations 5:4, King James Version

Lamentations 5:4 in other translations

BSBWe must buy the water we drink; our wood comes at a price.
WEBWe must pay for water to drink. Our wood is sold to us.
ASVWe have drunken our water for money; Our wood is sold unto us.
YLTOur water for money we have drunk, Our wood for a price doth come.
DARBYOur water have we to drink for money, our wood cometh unto us for a price.
BBEWe give money for a drink of water, we get our wood for a price.
WebsterWe have drank our water for money; our wood is sold to us.

What does Lamentations 5:4 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
4. 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.

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

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 4 We 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 when he comes to the city he is obliged to purchase his fuel, and considers it as a matter of great hardship.

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 5:4 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.

מֵימֵ֙ינוּ֙mei.Mei.nuwater ourH4325
בְּכֶ֣סֶףbe.Khe.seffor moneyH3701
שָׁתִ֔ינוּsha.Ti.nuwe have drunkH8354
עֵצֵ֖ינוּ'e.Tzei.nuwood<s> ourH6086
בִּמְחִ֥ירbim.Chirfor a priceH4242
יָבֹֽאוּ\׃ya.Vo.'uthey comeH935

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

Cross references for Lamentations 5:4

  • Isaiah 3:1

    For, behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water,

  • Deuteronomy 28:48

    Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the Lord 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.

  • Ezekiel 4:9-17

    Take 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. And thy meat which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it. Thou shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth part of an hin: from time to time shalt thou drink. And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight. …

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
have.
De 28:48; Isa 3:1; Eze 4:9-17
is sold. Heb. cometh for price.

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

Context

  • Lamentations 5:3

    We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows.

  • Lamentations 5:4

    We have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold unto us.

  • Lamentations 5:5

    Our necks are under persecution: we labour, and have no rest.

Read all of Lamentations 5

Lamentations 5:4 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Nuestra agua bebemos por dinero; nuestra leña por precio compramos.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Nous buvons notre eau à prix d’argent; notre bois nous vient par achat.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Unser Wasser trinken wir um Geld, unser Holz bekommen wir gegen Zahlung.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Aquam nostram pecunia bibimus; ligna nostra pretio comparavimus.