Devine Scripture

Lamentations 5:1

What does Lamentations 5:1 mean?

A plain-English look at Lamentations 5:1 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.

What Lamentations 5:1 means

The prayer opens by asking Jehovah to remember, look, and see the people’s disgrace. “Remember” is not a reminder to a forgetful God but a covenant appeal—pleading that He take notice and act as He has promised. Their “reproach” is public shame: defeat, humiliation, and the scorn of enemies. They do not minimize their guilt, but they feel the weight of being disgraced among the nations. By putting their pain before the Lord, they show that faith survives even in ruins. True lament does not turn away from God; it presses the wound into His hands, asking Him to regard their misery and intervene according to His steadfast character.

Parallel translations

WEB

World English Bible · 2000

Remember, O Jehovah, what is come upon us: Behold, and see our reproach.

KJV

King James Version · 1611

Remember, O Lord, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach.

ASV

American Standard Version · 1901

Remember, O Jehovah, what is come upon us: Behold, and see our reproach.

BBE

Bible in Basic English · 1949

Keep in mind, O Lord, what has come to us: take note and see our shame.

YLT

Young's Literal Translation · 1862

Remember, O Jehovah, what hath befallen us, Look attentively, and see our reproach.

DRA

Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752

Remember, O Lord, what is come upon us: consider and behold our reproach.

DBY

Darby Bible · 1890

Remember, O Jehovah, what is come upon us; consider, and see our reproach.

Context

Verse 1 sets the tone of the whole chapter as a communal prayer. After four chapters of grief, the survivors directly appeal to God’s attention. The lament that follows catalogs losses—land, family structure, daily necessities, safety, honor, leadership, and worship. This opening cry invites the reader to hear everything else as prayerful testimony before God, not mere complaint. The next verses will specify the disgrace that needs to be “seen,” grounding their request for restoration in concrete realities.

v.1This passage

v.2Our inheritance is turned unto strangers, Our houses unto aliens.

Cross references

Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

  • Job 7:7

    Oh remember that my life is a breath: Mine eye shall no more see good.

  • Habakkuk 3:2

    O Jehovah, I have heard the report of thee, and am afraid: O Jehovah, revive thy work in the midst of the years; In the midst of the years make it known; In wrath remember mercy.

  • Nehemiah 1:3

    And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.

  • Psalms 74:10

    How long, O God, shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?

  • Lamentations 3:19

    Remember mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.

  • Jeremiah 15:15

    O Jehovah, thou knowest; remember me, and visit me, and avenge me of my persecutors; take me not away in thy longsuffering: know that for thy sake I have suffered reproach.

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