Lamentations 1:5 (ASV)

Passage

Her adversaries are become the head, her enemies prosper; For Jehovah hath afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions: Her young children are gone into captivity before the adversary.

Nearby Context

Lamentations 1:3 Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and because of great servitude; She dwelleth among the nations, she findeth no rest: All her persecutors overtook her within the straits.

Lamentations 1:4 The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn assembly; All her gates are desolate, her priests do sigh: Her virgins are afflicted, and she herself is in bitterness.

Lamentations 1:5 Her adversaries are become the head, her enemies prosper; For Jehovah hath afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions: Her young children are gone into captivity before the adversary.

Lamentations 1:6 And from the daughter of Zion all her majesty is departed: Her princes are become like harts that find no pasture, And they are gone without strength before the pursuer.

Lamentations 1:7 Jerusalem remembereth in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that were from the days of old: When her people fell into the hand of the adversary, and none did help her, The adversaries saw her, they did mock at her desolations.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "transgressions", "adversaries", "become", "head", "enemies", "prosper", "jehovah", and "hath". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "transgressions" and "adversaries", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 4's "The ways of Zion do mourn because..." into verse 6's "And from the daughter of Zion all...", so "transgressions" and "adversaries" 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 "adversaries" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.