Lamentations 1:18 (WEB)

Passage

“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.

Nearby Context

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.

Lamentations 1:19 “I called for my lovers, but they deceived me. My priests and my elders gave up the spirit in the city, while they sought food for themselves to refresh their souls.

Lamentations 1:20 “Look, Yahweh; for I am in distress. My heart is troubled. My heart turns over within me, for I have grievously rebelled. Abroad, the sword bereaves. At home, it is like death.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "yahweh", "righteous", "rebelled", "against", "commandment", "please", "hear", and "peoples". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "yahweh" and "righteous", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 17's "Zion spreads out her hands There is..." into verse 19's "I called for my lovers but they...", so "yahweh" and "righteous" 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 "yahweh" and "righteous" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.