Lamentations 1:9 (ASV)

Passage

Her filthiness was in her skirts; she remembered not her latter end; Therefore is she come down wonderfully; she hath no comforter: Behold, O Jehovah, my affliction; for the enemy hath magnified himself.

Nearby Context

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.

Lamentations 1:8 Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she is become as an unclean thing; All that honored her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness: Yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward.

Lamentations 1:9 Her filthiness was in her skirts; she remembered not her latter end; Therefore is she come down wonderfully; she hath no comforter: Behold, O Jehovah, my affliction; for the enemy hath magnified himself.

Lamentations 1:10 The adversary hath spread out his hand upon all her pleasant things: For she hath seen that the nations are entered into her sanctuary, Concerning whom thou didst command that they should not enter into thine assembly.

Lamentations 1:11 All her people sigh, they seek bread; They have given their pleasant things for food to refresh the soul: See, O Jehovah, and behold; for I am become abject.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "filthiness", "skirts", "remembered", "latter", "therefore", "come", "down", and "wonderfully". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "filthiness" and "skirts", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 8's "Jerusalem hath grievously sinned therefore she is..." into verse 10's "The adversary hath spread out his hand...", so "filthiness" and "skirts" 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 "filthiness" and "skirts" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.