Lamentations 5:2 Meaning and Explanation
“Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →Their inherited land and homes have been handed over to foreigners.
What Does Lamentations 5:2 Mean?
The prayer begins to list the losses. 'Our inheritance is turned to strangers' — the land that God had given them as their portion, the inheritance passed down through generations, now belongs to foreigners. To lose the inheritance was to lose the very gift of God's promise, the land that marked them as his people.
'Our houses to aliens.' Their homes, the places of family and refuge, are occupied by strangers. The intimacy of home has been violated; others now dwell where they once lived. This is the bitterness of dispossession, of seeing one's own place taken by another. The verse names the loss plainly before God, trusting that the One who gave the inheritance in the first place has not forgotten the people to whom he gave it.
Lamentations 5:2 in the Original Language
nachalah (נַחֲלָה), 'inheritance' -- the allotted land passed down as God's promised gift, now lost to strangers.
Frequently Asked Questions About Lamentations 5:2
What does Lamentations 5:2 mean?
Their inherited land and homes have been handed over to foreigners.