Passage
The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand: they are wreathed, and come up upon my neck: he hath made my strength to fall, the LORD hath delivered me into their hands, from whom I am not able to rise up.
Lamentations 1:14 (KJV)
Nearby Context
Lamentations 1:12 Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the LORD hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.
Lamentations 1:13 From above hath he sent fire into my bones, and it prevaileth against them: he hath spread a net for my feet, he hath turned me back: he hath made me desolate and faint all the day.
Lamentations 1:14 The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand: they are wreathed, and come up upon my neck: he hath made my strength to fall, the LORD hath delivered me into their hands, from whom I am not able to rise up.
Lamentations 1:15 The LORD hath trodden under foot all my mighty men in the midst of me: he hath called an assembly against me to crush my young men: the LORD hath trodden the virgin, the daughter of Judah, as in a winepress.
Lamentations 1:16 For these things I weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water, because the comforter that should relieve my soul is far from me: my children are desolate, because the enemy prevailed.
Study Lenses
The verse centers on "transgressions", "yoke", "bound", "hand", "wreathed", "come", "upon", and "neck". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "transgressions" and "yoke", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 13's "From above hath he sent fire into..." into verse 15's "The LORD hath trodden under foot all...", so "transgressions" and "yoke" 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 "transgressions" and "yoke" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.