Lamentations 5:13 (KJV)

Passage

They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood.

Nearby Context

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.

Lamentations 5:14 The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their musick.

Lamentations 5:15 The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "took", "young", "grind", "children", "fell", "under", and "wood". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "took" and "young", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 12's "Princes are hanged up by their hand..." into verse 14's "The elders have ceased from the gate...", so "took" and "young" 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 "took" and "young" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.