Lamentations 5:11 (KJV)

Passage

They ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah.

Nearby Context

Lamentations 5:9 We gat our bread with the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness.

Lamentations 5:10 Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine.

Lamentations 5:11 They ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah.

Lamentations 5:12 Princes are hanged up by their hand: the faces of elders were not honoured.

Lamentations 5:13 They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "ravished", "women", "zion", "maids", "cities", and "judah". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "ravished" and "women", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 10's "Our skin was black like an oven..." into verse 12's "Princes are hanged up by their hand...", so "ravished" and "women" 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 "ravished" and "women" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.