Lamentations 1:18
What does Lamentations 1:18 mean?
A plain-English look at Lamentations 1:18 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Lamentations 1:18 means
The confession reaches its clearest point: “Jehovah is righteous; for I have rebelled against his commandment.” The city justifies God and condemns herself. She then calls all peoples to witness her sorrow—her young men and virgins taken away. Public testimony serves a double purpose: it honors God’s justice and invites others to learn from her fall. This is the heart of faithful lament—owning guilt without diminishing grief. The verse refuses self-pity and yet does not deny pain. By anchoring the disaster in God’s righteousness, the lament opens a pathway for mercy, for the God who is just also listens when the guilty cry out for help.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000Jehovah is righteous; for I have rebelled against his commandment: Hear, I pray you, all ye peoples, and behold my sorrow: My virgins and my young men are gone into captivity.
KJV
King James Version · 1611The Lord is righteous; for I have rebelled against his commandment: hear, I pray you, all people, and behold my sorrow: my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901Jehovah is righteous; for I have rebelled against his commandment: Hear, I pray you, all ye peoples, and behold my sorrow: My virgins and my young men are gone into captivity.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949The Lord is upright; for I have gone against his orders: give ear, now, all you peoples, and see my pain, my virgins and my young men have gone away as prisoners.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862Righteous is Jehovah, For His mouth I have provoked. Hear, I pray you, all ye peoples, and see my pain, My virgins and my young men have gone into captivity.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752Sade. The Lord is just, for I have provoked his mouth to wrath: hear, I pray you, all ye people, and see my sorrow: my virgins, and my young men are gone into captivity.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890Jehovah is righteous; for I have rebelled against his commandment. Hear, I pray you, all ye peoples, and behold my sorrow. My virgins and my young men are gone into captivity.
Context
After acknowledging God’s decree (verse 17), the lament makes an explicit confession of God’s righteousness (verse 18). This prepares for further descriptions of failed helpers (verse 19) and a renewed plea for God to behold distress (verse 20). The pattern of confession and petition is solidified: the city does not claim innocence but still seeks divine regard. Soon the focus will turn to the enemies’ gloating (verse 21) and a request for God to repay them according to their deeds (verse 22), rounding out the chapter’s movement from ruin to a plea for just recompense.
v.17Zion spreadeth forth her hands; there is none to comfort her; Jehovah hath commanded concerning Jacob, that they that are round about him should be his adversaries: Jerusalem is among them as an unclean thing.
v.18This passage
v.19I called for my lovers, butthey deceived me: My priests and mine elders gave up the ghost in the city, While they sought them food to refresh their souls.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Ezekiel 14:22
Yet, behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall be carried forth, both sons and daughters: behold, they shall come forth unto you, and ye shall see their way and their doings; and ye shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon it.
- Lamentations 1:5
Her adversaries are become the head, her enemies prosper; For Jehovah hath afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions: Her young children are gone into captivity before the adversary.
- Daniel 9:7
O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of face, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee.
- Lamentations 1:12
Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is brought upon me, Wherewith Jehovah hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.
- Nehemiah 9:26
Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their back, and slew thy prophets that testified against them to turn them again unto thee, and they wrought great provocations.
- Psalms 119:75
I know, O Jehovah, that thy judgments are righteous, And that in faithfulness thou hast afflicted me.
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