Lamentations 5:8 (DRB)

Passage

Servants have ruled over us: there was none to redeem us out of their hand.

Nearby Context

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

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

Lamentations 5:8 Servants have ruled over us: there was none to redeem us out of their hand.

Lamentations 5:9 We fetched our bread at the peril of our lives, because of the sword in the desert.

Lamentations 5:10 Our skin was burnt as an oven, by reason of the violence of the famine.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "servants", "ruled", "over", "none", "redeem", and "hand". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "servants" and "ruled", 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 are not..." into verse 9's "We fetched our bread at the peril...", so "servants" and "ruled" 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 "servants" and "ruled" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.