Lamentations 5:4 (DBY)

Passage

Our water have we to drink for money, our wood cometh unto us for a price.

Nearby Context

Lamentations 5:2 Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens.

Lamentations 5:3 We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows.

Lamentations 5:4 Our water have we to drink for money, our wood cometh unto us for a price.

Lamentations 5:5 Our pursuers are on our necks: we are weary, we have no rest.

Lamentations 5:6 We have given the hand to Egypt, [and] to Asshur, to be satisfied with bread.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "water", "drink", "money", "wood", "cometh", and "price". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "water" and "drink", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 3's "We are orphans and fatherless our mothers..." into verse 5's "Our pursuers are on our necks we...", so "water" and "drink" 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 "water" and "drink" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.