Lamentations 5:9 (ASV)

Passage

We get our bread at the peril of our lives, Because of the sword of the wilderness.

Nearby Context

Lamentations 5:7 Our fathers sinned, and are not; And we have borne their iniquities.

Lamentations 5:8 Servants rule over us: There is none to deliver us out of their hand.

Lamentations 5:9 We get our bread at the peril of our lives, Because of the sword of the wilderness.

Lamentations 5:10 Our skin is black like an oven, Because of the burning heat of famine.

Lamentations 5:11 They ravished the women in Zion, The virgins in the cities of Judah.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "bread", "peril", "lives", "sword", and "wilderness". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "bread" and "peril", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 8's "Servants rule over us There is none..." into verse 10's "Our skin is black like an oven...", so "bread" and "peril" 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 "bread" and "peril" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.