Lamentations 5:5 (KJV)

Passage

Our necks are under persecution: we labour, and have no rest.

Nearby Context

Lamentations 5:3 We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows.

Lamentations 5:4 We have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold unto us.

Lamentations 5:5 Our necks are under persecution: we labour, and have no rest.

Lamentations 5:6 We have given the hand to the Egyptians, and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.

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

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "necks", "under", "persecution", "labour", and "rest". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "necks" and "under", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 4's "We have drunken our water for money..." into verse 6's "We have given the hand to the...", so "necks" and "under" 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 "necks" and "under" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.