Lamentations 5:8 (DBY)

Passage

Bondmen rule over us: there is no deliverer out of their hand.

Nearby Context

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

Lamentations 5:7 Our fathers have sinned, [and] they are not; and we bear their iniquities.

Lamentations 5:8 Bondmen rule over us: there is no deliverer out of their hand.

Lamentations 5:9 We have to get our bread at the risk of our lives, because of the sword of the wilderness.

Lamentations 5:10 Our skin gloweth like an oven, because of the burning heat of the famine.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "bondmen", "rule", "over", "deliverer", and "hand". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "bondmen" and "rule", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 7's "Our fathers have sinned and they are..." into verse 9's "We have to get our bread at...", so "bondmen" and "rule" 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 "bondmen" and "rule" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.