Chapter 5
Themes, discussion questions, Christ connections, and denomination lenses.
Just read this chapter →Scripture
KJV1Remember, O LORD, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach.
2Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens.
3We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows.
4We have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold unto us.
5Our necks are under persecution: we labour, and have no rest.
6We have given the hand to the Egyptians, and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.
7Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities.
8Servants have ruled over us: there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand.
9We gat our bread with the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness.
10Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine.
11They ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah.
12Princes are hanged up by their hand: the faces of elders were not honoured.
13They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood.
14The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their musick.
15The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning.
16The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned!
17For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim.
18Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it.
19Thou, O LORD, remainest for ever; thy throne from generation to generation.
20Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time?
21Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.
22But thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth against us.
“Thou, O LORD, remainest for ever; thy throne from generation to generation. Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.”
Overview
The final chapter is a communal prayer calling on God to remember what has happened to His people. The inheritance has been given to strangers, orphans and widows abound, water and wood must be purchased, and the joy of their heart has ceased. Yet the chapter — and the book — closes with an appeal to God's eternal sovereignty: 'Thou, O LORD, remainest for ever; thy throne from generation to generation.' The people plead for God to turn them back and renew their days.
Key Themes
Remember, O Lord
The people call on God to remember their suffering, trusting that God's remembrance leads to action and that He has not forgotten them.
The Eternal Throne of God
Though Zion lies in ruins, God's throne endures from generation to generation, providing the unchanging foundation for hope.
The Plea for Restoration
The book ends not with a resolution but with a plea: 'Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.'
Study Questions
What does the prayer 'Remember, O LORD, what is come upon us' (v. 1) teach about bringing grief to God?
How does the affirmation that God's throne 'remaineth for ever' (v. 19) anchor hope in the midst of ruins?
What does the plea 'Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD' (v. 21) teach about repentance?
Why does the book end with a question rather than a resolution (v. 22)?
How does this final chapter model honest corporate prayer in times of national crisis?
Connection to Christ
The plea 'Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old' (v. 21) is ultimately answered in Christ, who turns sinners to God through the gospel and renews all things. The restoration that Lamentations pleads for is accomplished through the new covenant in Christ's blood.
Personal Reflection
Take time to journal or meditate on what God is teaching you through Lamentations 5. How can these truths transform your thinking and actions today?