Lamentations 1:3 kjv
Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and because of great servitude: she dwelleth among the heathen, she findeth no rest: all her persecutors overtook her between the straits.
Lamentations 1:3 nkjv
Judah has gone into captivity, Under affliction and hard servitude; She dwells among the nations, She finds no rest; All her persecutors overtake her in dire straits.
Lamentations 1:3 niv
After affliction and harsh labor, Judah has gone into exile. She dwells among the nations; she finds no resting place. All who pursue her have overtaken her in the midst of her distress.
Lamentations 1:3 esv
Judah has gone into exile because of affliction and hard servitude; she dwells now among the nations, but finds no resting place; her pursuers have all overtaken her in the midst of her distress.
Lamentations 1:3 nlt
Judah has been led away into captivity,
oppressed with cruel slavery.
She lives among foreign nations
and has no place of rest.
Her enemies have chased her down,
and she has nowhere to turn.
Lamentations 1 3 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Lev 26:33 | "And I will scatter you among the nations..." | Exile as covenant curse |
| Deut 28:25 | "The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies..." | Enemies triumphing due to disobedience |
| Deut 28:48 | "...you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and lack of everything..." | Servitude and complete lack |
| Deut 28:65 | "Among those nations you shall find no resting place..." | Lack of rest in exile |
| Ps 137:1 | "By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept..." | Description of exilic grief |
| Jer 25:9-11 | "I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants...and this whole land shall become a waste and a horror, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years." | Prophecy of Babylonian exile and duration |
| Jer 29:10-14 | "...when seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill my good word to you, in bringing you back to this place." | Promise of future return from exile |
| Isa 5:26 | "He will raise a signal for nations far away, and whistle for them from the ends of the earth; and behold, quickly, swiftly they come!" | God mobilizing nations for judgment |
| Isa 57:21 | "There is no peace,' says my God, 'for the wicked.'" | Lack of rest for the unrighteous |
| Dan 9:7-8 | "To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us confusion of face... because of their trespass that they have committed against you." | Confession of sin as cause for judgment |
| Amos 3:6 | "Does disaster come to a city unless the Lord has done it?" | God's sovereignty in allowing calamity |
| Ps 66:10-12 | "For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried... You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; yet you brought us out to a place of abundance." | Affliction as a testing process |
| Hab 1:6 | "For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation..." | Babylonians as God's instrument |
| Exod 1:13-14 | "So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves and made their lives bitter with hard service..." | Echoes of earlier cruel bondage in Egypt |
| Isa 1:4-7 | "Ah, sinful nation... your land is a desolation... foreign lands devour it in your very presence." | National sin and its devastating effects |
| Eze 5:12 | "A third part of you shall die of pestilence and be consumed by famine... and a third part I will scatter to all the winds..." | Division and dispersion of Judah |
| Luke 19:43-44 | "For days will come upon you, when your enemies will build an embankment about you and surround you and hem you in on every side and crush you to the ground..." | Future judgment on Jerusalem (A.D. 70) |
| Heb 4:1-11 | Discussion of "rest" and failing to enter God's rest due to disobedience | Theological parallel to lack of rest due to sin |
| Matt 11:28-29 | "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." | Spiritual rest offered by Christ, contrast to physical/national rest denied by sin |
| Rom 6:23 | "For the wages of sin is death..." | Consequences of sin in ultimate terms |
Lamentations 1 verses
Lamentations 1 3 Meaning
Lamentations 1:3 vividly describes the dire consequences of Judah's rebellion against God. The nation, symbolized as a desolate woman, has been forcibly removed from her homeland and subjected to cruel servitude and severe affliction due to her sins. Scattered among foreign peoples, she finds no true peace or security. Her enemies, empowered by God's judgment, have completely overwhelmed her, leaving her trapped and anguished with no means of escape.
Lamentations 1 3 Context
Lamentations 1:3 is set in the immediate aftermath of Jerusalem's catastrophic fall and destruction by the Babylonian empire in 586 BC. The book of Lamentations itself is a collection of five poetic dirges, weeping over the desolate city, its ruined Temple, and the exile of its people. Chapter 1 specifically personifies Jerusalem as a grieving widow, mourning her complete destruction and isolation. This verse details the specifics of that grief: the forced deportation, the harsh conditions of their new reality, and the pervasive nature of their oppression, directly attributing it to the nation's spiritual affliction and hard servitude resulting from their persistent disobedience to God's covenant. The historical context underscores that this was a fulfillment of centuries of prophetic warnings from God through Moses and the prophets regarding the consequences of idolatry and unfaithfulness.
Lamentations 1 3 Word analysis
- Judah: Refers to the southern kingdom of Israel, now reduced to a defeated and scattered remnant. It embodies God's chosen people, currently undergoing divine judgment.
- has gone into exile: The Hebrew galah (גָּלָה) signifies removal or uncovering. Here, it denotes forced displacement and captivity. This was a core aspect of God's covenant curses for disobedience (Deut 28), emphasizing that the people's sacred connection to their land was severed due to their actions.
- because of affliction: The Hebrew `oni (עֳנִי) points to distress, misery, or oppression. It implies suffering not only physically but also humiliation and a humbling state. This "affliction" is both the cause (internal spiritual disease leading to sin) and a consequence (external suffering) of their condition.
- and hard servitude: The Hebrew rov `avodah (רֹב עֲבֹדָה) means "great labor" or "much service." This alludes to harsh, demanding, and oppressive toil, akin to the bondage Israel experienced in Egypt. However, this time it's a punitive servitude enforced by God through their enemies due to their idolatry and injustice.
- she dwells among the nations: The Hebrew yashvah bagoyim (יָשְׁבָה בַגּוֹיִם) highlights their dispersal and residency among Gentile peoples. This implies a loss of national identity, sovereignty, and religious purity, as they are no longer in their covenant land and surrounded by pagan cultures.
- but finds no resting place: The Hebrew lo matza menoach (לֹא מָצְאָה מָנוֹחַ) underscores a profound lack of true peace, security, or stability. God had promised "rest" (Deut 12:9-10) in the land as a blessing of obedience; its absence signifies profound judgment and a life of constant insecurity and agitation in exile.
- all her persecutors: The Hebrew kol rodfeha (כֹּל רֹדְפֶיהָ) means "all her pursuers." This emphasizes the totality and relentless nature of the enemy's pursuit and control. These persecutors (Babylonians and surrounding nations) were instruments of God's righteous wrath.
- have overtaken her: The Hebrew hissiguha (הִשִּׂיגוּהָ) means "have caught up with her," "have reached her," or "have seized her." It conveys the complete and inescapable capture of Judah, highlighting that there was no place to flee, no hope of escape from their tormentors.
- in the midst of her distress: The Hebrew ben ha-metzarim (בֵּין הַמְּצָרִים) means "between the narrow places" or "in her straits." It depicts a situation of being cornered, hemmed in, and surrounded by overwhelming anguish, without room to maneuver or find relief.
Words-group analysis
- "Judah has gone into exile because of affliction and hard servitude": This phrase directly links Judah's forced removal and oppressive state to its internal moral and spiritual failings ("affliction" being both internal state and external suffering) and the subsequent cruel bondage that serves as divine punishment. The parallel with Egyptian bondage serves as a grim reminder that unfaithfulness can lead to a reversal of God's redemptive acts.
- "she dwells among the nations, but finds no resting place": This pairing illustrates the profound consequence of being dispossessed from the promised land. The lack of "resting place" signifies spiritual and physical insecurity, highlighting the disruption of the covenant promise of rest in the land. It contrasts sharply with the divinely intended security and shalom of God's people in their proper place.
- "all her persecutors have overtaken her in the midst of her distress": This tripartite phrase paints a picture of inescapable doom. The enemies are not merely present but have fully overtaken Judah, implying total victory and capture. The phrase "in the midst of her distress" underscores that even in their deepest suffering, there is no respite; their anguish is precisely where the persecutors corner them.
Lamentations 1 3 Bonus section
The poetic structure of Lamentations 1 is an acrostic, with each successive verse (1:1-1:22) beginning with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. While this specific verse doesn't fully demonstrate the acrostic for an English reader, the cumulative effect of the entire chapter (and the next few) underscores a comprehensive and ordered unfolding of grief. The verse portrays Judah's situation using the figure of persona ficta (personification), where Jerusalem/Judah is presented as a widow or abandoned woman, weeping alone and utterly defeated. This emphasizes the emotional depth and personal nature of the national tragedy, allowing the reader to feel the raw sorrow. The complete fulfillment of God's warnings about exile demonstrates His unbending righteousness and the absolute nature of His covenant.
Lamentations 1 3 Commentary
Lamentations 1:3 presents a stark picture of Judah's state of utter devastation. It is a precise articulation of cause and effect: the exile and oppressive suffering are directly attributed to Judah's accumulated spiritual sickness ("affliction") and systemic "hard servitude" (likely referring to their bondage to sin and idols). Having transgressed the covenant, the people are removed from the security and blessings of the promised land and dispersed among the nations, a prophesied curse. This dispersion is marked by a profound lack of peace or "rest," signifying the spiritual and physical disquiet that follows unfaithfulness. The imagery of "all her persecutors have overtaken her in the midst of her distress" emphasizes the inescapable and complete nature of God's judgment through these foreign powers. It shows that even in their desperate condition, their enemies continued to inflict pain and maintain their hold, reinforcing that there was no human means of escape or relief without divine intervention. It is a reminder that the path of persistent sin leads to a compounding of suffering and isolation, and the absence of divine protection against spiritual and physical enemies.