Lamentations 5:1 meaning summary explained with word-by-word analysis enriched with context, commentary and Cross References from KJV, NIV, ESV and NLT.
Lamentations 5:1 kjv
Remember, O LORD, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach.
Lamentations 5:1 nkjv
Remember, O LORD, what has come upon us; Look, and behold our reproach!
Lamentations 5:1 niv
Remember, LORD, what has happened to us; look, and see our disgrace.
Lamentations 5:1 esv
Remember, O LORD, what has befallen us; look, and see our disgrace!
Lamentations 5:1 nlt
LORD, remember what has happened to us.
See how we have been disgraced!
Lamentations 5 1 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| God's Remembrance | ||
| Exo 2:24 | So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant... | God's active remembrance of covenant. |
| Psa 105:8 | He remembers His covenant forever... | God's eternal covenant faithfulness. |
| Gen 8:1 | But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals... | God remembers and acts. |
| Isa 49:15-16 | "Can a woman forget her nursing child... I will not forget you..." | God's profound, unfailing remembrance. |
| Luke 1:72 | to remember His holy covenant... | God's covenant with Abraham, through Christ. |
| God's Seeing and Action | ||
| Exo 3:7 | "I have surely seen the affliction of My people..." | God sees and plans to deliver. |
| Psa 33:13-14 | The LORD looks down from heaven... He beholds all the children of man. | God's comprehensive oversight. |
| Psa 80:14 | Look down from heaven and see! Have regard for this vine... | Plea for divine attention to Israel's plight. |
| Hab 1:5 | "Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded..." | God's invitation to observe His workings. |
| Deut 26:7 | Then we cried to the LORD... and the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction... | God responds to cries for help. |
| Our Suffering and Disgrace | ||
| Psa 44:13 | You have made us a reproach to our neighbors... | Collective national shame. |
| Jer 24:9 | I will make them a horror and an object of reproach among all the kingdoms... | Consequence of disobedience. |
| Isa 47:3 | Your nakedness shall be uncovered... I will take vengeance... | Public shame and judgment. |
| Rom 15:3 | "The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me." | Christ bears our disgrace. |
| Psa 69:9 | ...the reproaches of those who reproach You fell on me. | Similar to Rom 15:3, foreshadowing Christ. |
| General Lament and Appeals | ||
| Psa 13:1 | How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever? | Direct questioning of divine attention. |
| Psa 79:1 | O God, the nations have come into Your inheritance... | Plea concerning national desolation. |
| Neh 9:32 | "...let not all the hardship seem little before you." | Comprehensive prayer for acknowledgment. |
| Job 10:9 | Remember that you molded me like clay... | Individual plea for God's recollection. |
| Lam 3:19-21 | Remember my affliction and my wanderings... But this I call to mind... | Personal lament and hope. |
| Phil 4:6 | Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication... | New Testament call to bring concerns to God. |
| Heb 4:16 | Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace... | Bold approach to God for mercy. |
Lamentations 5 verses
Lamentations 5 1 meaning
Lamentations 5:1 opens the final chapter, shifting from a descriptive lament to a direct communal prayer of petition. It is an urgent plea to God to acknowledge the immense suffering and profound humiliation experienced by His people following the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. The verse implores God to not merely recall, but to act on the memory of their predicament, actively observing their disgrace with a view toward intervention and restoration.
Lamentations 5 1 Context
Lamentations 5:1 initiates the final lament-prayer of the book, representing a pivotal shift. Chapters 1-4 describe the desolation of Jerusalem, the suffering of its people, and the consequences of their sin, often through acrostic structures. Chapter 5, however, abandons this poetic device, signaling a raw, unmitigated cry to God. It moves from narrative and reflective sorrow to direct supplication. The chapter functions as a corporate prayer on behalf of the exiled remnant after the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC, where they enumerate their suffering and make a desperate appeal for God's renewed covenant favor and restoration. This initial verse serves as the direct address and the thematic anchor for the chapter's petitions, establishing the tone of urgent and direct engagement with the divine amidst national calamity.
Lamentations 5 1 Word analysis
- Remember (זכר, zakhar): This is an imperative, an urgent command to God. It does not imply that God forgets in a human sense, but rather a plea for God to act as if He is remembering—to take action based on His covenant faithfulness and justice. It signifies a desire for divine intervention rooted in His character and past promises, often associated with a renewal of favor or relief from distress.
- O Lord (יהוה, YHWH): The personal, covenantal name of God. By using YHWH, the supplicants appeal to God's steadfast love and faithfulness specifically revealed in His covenant relationship with Israel, invoking the intimacy and binding nature of their divine agreement, despite their current suffering.
- what has befallen us (מה היה לנו, mah hayah lanu): Literally "what has come upon us" or "what has happened to us." This collective pronoun emphasizes the shared, overwhelming catastrophe experienced by the entire nation—the destruction, exile, and loss. It's an understated but profoundly evocative phrase encompassing the totality of their suffering.
- look (הביטה, habbiṭah): An imperative, urging God to fix His gaze, to pay active and attentive notice. It conveys a desire for God's direct, personal observation of their plight, implying a request for Him to cease His apparent non-intervention and to visibly acknowledge their situation.
- and see (וראה, ur'eh): Also an imperative, closely paired with "look," reinforcing the plea for God's engaged perception. It suggests a desire for God to not just see passively, but to truly discern, understand, and fully comprehend the depth and scope of their affliction and humiliation. The conjunction "and" intensifies the urgency of the twin imperatives.
- our disgrace (חרפתנו, ḥerpateinu): Refers to shame, reproach, ignominy, or humiliation. For Israel, this was not just personal embarrassment but profound national and theological dishonor. Their God's chosen people had been conquered and exiled, the Temple destroyed—a direct challenge to YHWH's honor and covenant power in the eyes of the nations. It represented public scorn, suggesting their God was unable or unwilling to protect them, leading to an extreme loss of identity and divine favor.
Words-group analysis:
- "Remember, O Lord...": This opening phrase is a profound theological appeal. It moves beyond a mere request for recall; it is a profound act of faith that God, the covenant Lord, retains the power and character to act. The supplicant believes that for God to "remember" means He will take decisive action on behalf of His people, invoking His attributes of justice and mercy that are inherent in His covenant.
- "...what has befallen us; look, and see our disgrace!": This second part links the suffering directly to the shame. The command to "look, and see" moves God from a position of apparent absence or indifference to active engagement with their perceived dishonor. The "disgrace" is the theological core of their suffering, a wound not only to their identity but implicitly to God's honor among the nations. It frames the appeal for remembrance as an appeal for God to restore His own reputation by vindicating His people.
Lamentations 5 1 Bonus section
The transition in Lamentations 5 from the acrostic patterns of chapters 1-4 is highly significant. The absence of strict poetic structure here suggests a depth of raw, uncontained anguish and desperate honesty that overflows typical literary boundaries. The supplicants' pain is so profound and their plea so urgent that they forgo the previous formal elegance, directly pouring out their hearts to God without artifice. This verse, therefore, inaugurates a communal cry that is stripped bare of literary complexity, underscoring the extreme distress and the direct, unadorned reliance on God's immediate response. It also represents a pivot from looking back at the cause of their suffering (their sins) to looking forward, desperately yearning for God's active, visible intervention and restoration.
Lamentations 5 1 Commentary
Lamentations 5:1 serves as a profound prayer model in the midst of extreme suffering and national humiliation. It is a bold, direct, and unapologetic address to the covenant God, YHWH, imploring Him to not remain passive in the face of their devastation. The plea to "remember" transcends a simple memory prompt; it is an appeal to God's nature and covenant faithfulness, an urgent call for Him to act in accordance with His character and promises, thereby demonstrating His sovereignty. The parallel imperatives "look, and see" intensify this petition, emphasizing the need for God's active discernment of their calamitous situation, especially the "disgrace" they endure. This disgrace is multifaceted: personal loss, national subjugation, and the profound theological implication of YHWH's people being conquered, which could be misinterpreted as a defeat of their God Himself. Despite their current brokenness, the very act of this lament-prayer affirms an underlying hope and belief that God is still attentive, capable, and just, awaiting His righteous intervention. It implicitly challenges God to restore not only His people but also His own name in the eyes of a mocking world.