Lamentations 5:7 (KJV)

Passage

Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities.

Nearby Context

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.

Lamentations 5:8 Servants have ruled over us: there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand.

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

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "iniquities", "fathers", "sinned", and "borne". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "iniquities" and "fathers", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 6's "We have given the hand to the..." into verse 8's "Servants have ruled over us there is...", so "iniquities" and "fathers" 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 "iniquities" and "fathers" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.