Devine Scripture

Lamentations 5:7

What does Lamentations 5:7 mean?

A plain-English look at Lamentations 5:7 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.

What Lamentations 5:7 means

They admit that their “fathers sinned” and died, yet the children bear the consequences. This is not an attempt to evade blame, for the chapter later says, “we have sinned” (verse 16). Rather, it recognizes corporate solidarity: patterns of rebellion have ripple effects that outlive the first offenders. The community reels under accumulated guilt and its outcomes—exile, desolation, and domination. By saying this to Jehovah, they accept that their suffering is not random fate but moral consequence under God’s rule. Such clarity does not erase hope; it frames their plea for mercy as a request that God would deal with them not only according to justice but also compassion.

Parallel translations

WEB

World English Bible · 2000

Our fathers sinned, and are not; And we have borne their iniquities.

KJV

King James Version · 1611

Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities.

ASV

American Standard Version · 1901

Our fathers sinned, and are not; And we have borne their iniquities.

BBE

Bible in Basic English · 1949

Our fathers were sinners and are dead; and the weight of their evil-doing is on us.

YLT

Young's Literal Translation · 1862

Our fathers have sinned--they are not, We their iniquities have borne.

DRA

Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752

Our fathers have sinned, and are not: and we have borne their iniquities.

DBY

Darby Bible · 1890

Our fathers have sinned, [and] they are not; and we bear their iniquities.

Context

The lament moves from foreign alliances to the deeper cause: generational sin’s legacy. Verse 7 sets the theological backdrop for their misery. Next, they describe social inversion—servants ruling over them and no deliverer—concretizing the outworking of judgment. The flow helps the reader see both why the calamity happened and how it shows up in daily governance, preparing hearts to value the restoration they will soon plead for.

v.6We have given the hand to the Egyptians, And to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.

v.7This passage

v.8Servants rule over us: There is none to deliver us out of their hand.

Cross references

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

  • Job 7:21

    And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? For now shall I lie down in the dust; And thou wilt seek me diligently, but I shall not be.

  • Matthew 23:32

    Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.

  • Jeremiah 16:12

    and ye have done evil more than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk every one after the stubbornness of his evil heart, so that ye hearken not unto me:

  • Ezekiel 18:2

    What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge?

  • Exodus 20:5

    thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them; for I Jehovah thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate me,

  • Jeremiah 14:20

    We acknowledge, O Jehovah, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers; for we have sinned against thee.

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