Lamentations 1:10
What does Lamentations 1:10 mean?
A plain-English look at Lamentations 1:10 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Lamentations 1:10 means
The adversary has seized Jerusalem’s “pleasant things” and, worse, the nations have entered her sanctuary—those whom God had forbidden to enter the assembly. This is not only plunder; it is sacrilege. The invasion of holy space reveals the depth of judgment: protections once assured are removed, and the profane crosses sacred thresholds. The loss of valuables is grievous, but the defilement of the temple is devastating, signaling disrupted communion with God. The verse shows that when God’s people rebel, even the symbols and places of his dwelling among them may be exposed to violation. This desecration is both a consequence of sin and a wound at the heart of their identity.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000The adversary hath spread out his hand upon all her pleasant things: For she hath seen that the nations are entered into her sanctuary, Concerning whom thou didst command that they should not enter into thine assembly.
KJV
King James Version · 1611The adversary hath spread out his hand upon all her pleasant things: for she hath seen that the heathen entered into her sanctuary, whom thou didst command that they should not enter into thy congregation.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901The adversary hath spread out his hand upon all her pleasant things: For she hath seen that the nations are entered into her sanctuary, Concerning whom thou didst command that they should not enter into thine assembly.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949The hand of her hater is stretched out over all her desired things; for she has seen that the nations have come into her holy place, about whom you gave orders that they were not to come into the meeting of your people.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862His hand spread out hath an adversary On all her desirable things, For she hath seen--Nations have entered her sanctuary, Concerning which Thou didst command, `They do not come into the assembly to thee.'
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752Jod. The enemy hath put out his hand to all her desirable things: for she hath seen the Gentiles enter into her sanctuary, of whom thou gavest commandment that they should not enter into thy church.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890The adversary hath spread out his hand upon all her precious things; for she hath seen the nations enter into her sanctuary, concerning whom thou didst command that they should not enter into thy congregation.
Context
Having confessed sin and appealed for God to behold her affliction (verse 9), the lament now points to the desecration of the sanctuary (verse 10). This spiritual outrage intensifies the sorrow beyond political defeat. It paves the way for the picture of famine in verse 11, where people trade treasures for bread. The chapter moves from the temple’s violation to the people’s starvation, showing judgment’s reach from sacred spaces to daily survival. These details further justify Jerusalem’s repeated pleas for God to see and consider her humiliation and need (verses 9, 11).
v.9Her filthiness was in her skirts; she remembered not her latter end; Therefore is she come down wonderfully; she hath no comforter: Behold, O Jehovah, my affliction; for the enemy hath magnified himself.
v.10This passage
v.11All her people sigh, they seek bread; They have given their pleasant things for food to refresh the soul: See, O Jehovah, and behold; for I am become abject.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Isaiah 5:13
Therefore my people are gone into captivity for lack of knowledge; and their honorable men are famished, and their multitude are parched with thirst.
- Jeremiah 52:17
And the pillars of brass that were in the house of Jehovah, and the bases and the brazen sea that were in the house of Jehovah, did the Chaldeans break in pieces, and carried all the brass of them to Babylon.
- Jeremiah 51:51
We are confounded, because we have heard reproach; confusion hath covered our faces: for strangers are come into the sanctuaries of Jehovah’s house.
- Ezekiel 7:22
My face will I turn also from them, and they shall profane my secret place; and robbers shall enter into it, and profane it.
- Ezekiel 44:7
in that ye have brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to profane it, even my house, when ye offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant, to add unto all your abominations.
- Deuteronomy 23:3
An Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter into the assembly of Jehovah; even to the tenth generation shall none belonging to them enter into the assembly of Jehovah for ever:
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