Lamentations 5:15
What does Lamentations 5:15 mean?
A plain-English look at Lamentations 5:15 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Lamentations 5:15 means
The people state plainly that joy has ended and dancing has become mourning. This sums up the losses already named—land, family, bread, safety, honor, leadership, and worship. The verse is not self-indulgent grief; it recognizes that without God’s favor, the springs of joy dry up. Mourning here is appropriate response to sin and its consequences, yet it is also a plea for joy’s restoration. They have no confidence in distractions or quick fixes. Only Jehovah can turn mourning into gladness. By acknowledging joy’s extinction, they prepare to confess why the crown fell and to seek the renewal that only God gives.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000The joy of our heart is ceased; Our dance is turned into mourning.
KJV
King James Version · 1611The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901The joy of our heart is ceased; Our dance is turned into mourning.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949The joy of our hearts is ended; our dancing is changed into sorrow.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862Ceased hath the joy of our heart, Turned to mourning hath been our dancing.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752The joy of our heart is ceased, our dancing is turned into mourning.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890The joy of our heart hath ceased; our dance is turned into mourning.
Context
After the collapse of public justice and festivity, verse 15 offers a concise verdict: joy is gone. The next verse will locate the reason in sin and the fall of their “crown,” moving from effects to cause. This shift is crucial; lament becomes repentance, and sorrow becomes a doorway to hope as the prayer soon turns to God’s eternal throne and a plea for renewal.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Amos 6:4
that lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall;
- Psalms 30:11
Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing; Thou hast loosed my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;
- James 4:9
Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
- Jeremiah 25:10
Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp.
- Amos 8:10
And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning for an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.
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