Lamentations 5:4 (YLT)

Passage

Our water for money we have drunk, Our wood for a price doth come.

Nearby Context

Lamentations 5:2 Our inheritance hath been turned to strangers, Our houses to foreigners.

Lamentations 5:3 Orphans we have been--without a father, our mothers <FI>are<Fi> as widows.

Lamentations 5:4 Our water for money we have drunk, Our wood for a price doth come.

Lamentations 5:5 For our neck we have been pursued, We have laboured--there hath been no rest for us.

Lamentations 5:6 <FI> To<Fi> Egypt we have given a hand, <FI>To<Fi> Asshur, to be satisfied with bread.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "water", "money", "drunk", "wood", "price", "doth", and "come". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "water" and "money", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 3's "Orphans we have been--without a father our..." into verse 5's "For our neck we have been pursued...", so "water" and "money" 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 "water" and "money" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.