Lamentations 5:4 (DRB)

Passage

We have drunk our water for money: we have bought our wood.

Nearby Context

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

Lamentations 5:3 We are become orphans without a father: our mothers are as widows.

Lamentations 5:4 We have drunk our water for money: we have bought our wood.

Lamentations 5:5 We were dragged by the necks, we were weary and no rest was given us.

Lamentations 5:6 We have given our hand to Egypt, and to the Assyrians, that we might be satisfied with bread.

Study Lenses

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

The nearby context moves from verse 3's "We are become orphans without a father..." into verse 5's "We were dragged by the necks we...", so "drunk" and "water" 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 "drunk" and "water" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.