Devine Scripture

Lamentations 5:14

What does Lamentations 5:14 mean?

A plain-English look at Lamentations 5:14 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.

What Lamentations 5:14 means

Elders are absent from the gate—the seat of justice, counsel, and communal decision—and young men no longer make music. Courts are shut; festivals silent. The social fabric has unraveled: no fair judgments, no public wisdom, no happy gatherings. This is not only sadness but moral danger, for without elder counsel and youthful joy, a people becomes brittle and lawless. They bring this silence to God, asking by implication for the restoration of justice and celebration in His name. If He revives the community, the gate will again see wisdom and the streets will hear songs.

Parallel translations

WEB

World English Bible · 2000

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

KJV

King James Version · 1611

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

ASV

American Standard Version · 1901

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

BBE

Bible in Basic English · 1949

The old men are no longer seated in the doorway, and the music of the young men has come to an end.

YLT

Young's Literal Translation · 1862

The aged from the gate have ceased, Young men from their song.

DRA

Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752

The ancients have ceased from the gates: the young men from the choir of the singers.

DBY

Darby Bible · 1890

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

Context

With youth crushed by labor, the prayer widens to the collapse of public life. Verse 14 shows justice muted and joy stifled. Next comes a summary statement: joy has ceased, mourning has replaced dance, leading directly to a frank confession of sin in verse 16. The flow moves from description to interpretation, preparing the appeal for God to act based on His eternal rule.

v.13The young men bare the mill; And the children stumbled under the wood.

v.14This passage

v.15The joy of our heart is ceased; Our dance is turned into mourning.

Cross references

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

  • Job 30:31

    Therefore is my harpturnedto mourning, And my pipe into the voice of them that weep.

  • Ezekiel 26:13

    And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease; and the sound of thy harps shall be no more heard.

  • Deuteronomy 16:18

    Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, according to thy tribes; and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment.

  • Revelation 18:22

    And the voice of harpers and minstrels and flute-players and trumpeters shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft, shall be found any more at all in thee; and the voice of a mill shall be heard no more at all in thee;

  • Jeremiah 7:34

    Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; for the land shall become a waste.

  • Isaiah 3:2

    the mighty man, and the man of war; the judge, and the prophet, and the diviner, and the elder;

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