Passage
Bound hath been the yoke of my transgressions by His hand, They are wrapped together, They have gone up on my neck, He hath caused my power to stumble, The Lord hath given me into hands, I am not able to rise.
Lamentations 1:14 (YLT)
Nearby Context
Lamentations 1:12 <FI> Is it<Fi> nothing to you, all ye passing by the way? Look attentively, and see, If there is any pain like my pain, That He is rolling to me? Whom Jehovah hath afflicted In the day of the fierceness of His anger.
Lamentations 1:13 From above He hath sent fire into my bone, And it subdueth it, He hath spread a net for my feet, He hath turned me backward, He hath made me desolate--all the day sick.
Lamentations 1:14 Bound hath been the yoke of my transgressions by His hand, They are wrapped together, They have gone up on my neck, He hath caused my power to stumble, The Lord hath given me into hands, I am not able to rise.
Lamentations 1:15 Trodden down all my mighty ones hath the Lord in my midst, He proclaimed against me an appointed time, To destroy my young men, A wine-press hath the Lord trodden, To the virgin daughter of Judah.
Lamentations 1:16 For these I am weeping, My eye, my eye, is running down with waters, For, far from me hath been a comforter, Refreshing my soul, My sons have been desolate, For mighty hath been an enemy.
Study Lenses
The verse centers on "transgressions", "bound", "hath", "been", "yoke", "hand", "wrapped", and "together". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "transgressions" and "bound", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 13's "From above He hath sent fire into..." into verse 15's "Trodden down all my mighty ones hath...", so "transgressions" and "bound" 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 "transgressions" and "bound" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.