Lamentations 1:16 (WEB)

Passage

“For these things I weep. My eye, my eye runs down with water, because the comforter who should refresh my soul is far from me. My children are desolate, because the enemy has prevailed.”

Nearby Context

Lamentations 1:14 “The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand. They are knit together. They have come up on my neck. He made my strength fail. The Lord has delivered me into their hands, against whom I am not able to stand.

Lamentations 1:15 “The Lord has set at nothing all my mighty men within me. He has called a solemn assembly against me to crush my young men. The Lord has trodden the virgin daughter of Judah as in a wine press.

Lamentations 1:16 “For these things I weep. My eye, my eye runs down with water, because the comforter who should refresh my soul is far from me. My children are desolate, because the enemy has prevailed.”

Lamentations 1:17 Zion spreads out her hands. There is no one to comfort her. Yahweh has commanded concerning Jacob, that those who are around him should be his adversaries. Jerusalem is among them as an unclean thing.

Lamentations 1:18 “Yahweh is righteous; for I have rebelled against his commandment. Please hear all you peoples, and see my sorrow. My virgins and my young men have gone into captivity.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "things", "weep", "runs", "down", "water", "comforter", "should", and "refresh". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "things" and "weep", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 15's "The Lord has set at nothing all..." into verse 17's "Zion spreads out her hands There is...", so "things" and "weep" 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 "things" and "weep" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.