Lamentations 5:9
What does Lamentations 5:9 mean?
A plain-English look at Lamentations 5:9 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Lamentations 5:9 means
To secure bread they risk their lives because of “the sword of the wilderness,” likely attacks by raiders or bandits exploiting the chaos. Basic errands become dangerous missions. Hunger presses them out; violence threatens them on the way. This sentence shows how judgment multiplies miseries: famine breeds danger, danger hinders supply, and fear becomes a daily companion. They present this to Jehovah because only He can tame the land, restrain predators, and provide safe provision. The verse invites compassion for a people reduced to choosing between starvation and the sword, and it reinforces the urgency of their plea for God’s intervention.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000We get our bread at the peril of our lives, Because of the sword of the wilderness.
KJV
King James Version · 1611We gat our bread with the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901We get our bread at the peril of our lives, Because of the sword of the wilderness.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949We put our lives in danger to get our bread, because of the sword of the waste land.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862With our lives we bring in our bread, Because of the sword of the wilderness.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752We fetched our bread at the peril of our lives, because of the sword in the desert.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890We have to get our bread at the risk of our lives, because of the sword of the wilderness.
Context
From political humiliation, the prayer turns again to the hazards of daily sustenance. Verse 9 amplifies the peril that surrounds every attempt to live. The next verse will describe the bodily effects of famine, making their distress visible on their skin. Together these verses intensify the realism of the lament before it names further atrocities against women and leaders in the community.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Jeremiah 42:14
saying, No; but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread; and there will we dwell:
- Jeremiah 40:9
And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan sware unto them and to their men, saying, Fear not to serve the Chaldeans: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.
- Ezekiel 4:16
Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with fearfulness; and they shall drink water by measure, and in dismay:
- Jeremiah 42:16
then it shall come to pass, that the sword, which ye fear, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt; and the famine, whereof ye are afraid, shall follow hard after you there in Egypt; and there ye shall die.
- Judges 6:11
And the angel of Jehovah came, and sat under the oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.
- 2 Samuel 23:17
And he said, Be it far from me, O Jehovah, that I should do this: shall I drink the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives? therefore he would not drink it. These things did the three mighty men.
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