Lamentations 1:14 (ASV)

Passage

The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand; They are knit together, they are come up upon my neck; he hath made my strength to fail: The Lord hath delivered me into their hands, against whom I am not able to stand.

Nearby Context

Lamentations 1:12 Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is brought upon me, Wherewith Jehovah hath afflicted [me] in the day of his fierce anger.

Lamentations 1:13 From on high hath he sent fire into my bones, and it prevaileth against them; He hath spread a net for my feet, he hath turned me back: He hath made me desolate and faint all the day.

Lamentations 1:14 The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand; They are knit together, they are come up upon my neck; he hath made my strength to fail: The Lord hath delivered me into their hands, against whom I am not able to stand.

Lamentations 1:15 The Lord hath set at nought all my mighty men in the midst of me; He hath called a solemn assembly against me to crush my young men: The Lord hath trodden as in a winepress the virgin daughter of Judah.

Lamentations 1:16 For these things I weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water; Because the comforter that should refresh my soul is far from me: My children are desolate, because the enemy hath prevailed.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "transgressions", "yoke", "bound", "hand", "knit", "together", "come", and "upon". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "transgressions" and "yoke", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 13's "From on high hath he sent fire..." into verse 15's "The Lord hath set at nought all...", so "transgressions" and "yoke" belong inside that flow. In Lamentations context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "transgressions" and "yoke" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.