Lamentations 5:8 (WEB)

Passage

Servants rule over us. There is no one to deliver us out of their hand.

Nearby Context

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

Lamentations 5:7 Our fathers sinned, and are no more. We have borne their iniquities.

Lamentations 5:8 Servants rule over us. There is no one to deliver us out of their hand.

Lamentations 5:9 We get our bread at the peril of our lives, because of the sword of the wilderness.

Lamentations 5:10 Our skin is black like an oven, because of the burning heat of famine.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "servants", "rule", "over", "deliver", and "hand". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "servants" and "rule", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 7's "Our fathers sinned and are no more..." into verse 9's "We get our bread at the peril...", so "servants" and "rule" 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 "servants" and "rule" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.