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Lamentations 1:11

in Lamentations 1

All her people groan as they search for bread. They have traded their treasures for food to keep themselves alive. Look, O LORD, and consider, for I have become despised.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

All her people sigh, they seek bread; They have given their pleasant things for food to refresh the soul: See, O Jehovah, and behold; for I am become abject.

KJV

All her people sigh, they seek bread; they have given their pleasant things for meat to relieve the soul: see, O Lord, and consider; for I am become vile.

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This verse in Lamentations 1

Commentary

11 notes on this verse
All her people sigh,.... Not her priests only, Lam 1:4; but all the common people, because of their affliction, particularly for want of bread.

This site's exposition

The adversary has seized all her treasures

on Lamentations 1:10-11

The adversary seizes the temple's treasures, and the nations enter the sanctuary, “those You had forbidden to enter Your assembly”, the exclusion in Deuteronomy 23:3. Verse 11 shows the famine behind the siege in one trade: “They have traded their treasures for food to keep themselves alive”.

This site's exposition

All her people groan

The people groan and search for bread in a siege that lasted a year and a half, Jeremiah 52:4-6. Albert Barnes pictures them bringing out their treasures to buy one meal. Zion's plea to the LORD rests on being despised.

The record, by era

The Medieval Church3 voices

A commentator

Glossa Ordinaria

Commentary (church-history corpus) · Written before 1274.

proposed

ALL HER PEOPLE: the fourth topic of complaint. SEE O LORD: the fourteenth topic of complaint. Historical interpretation. ALL HER PEOPLE SIGH &c: how great the hunger and pestilence the Jews suffered, the histories do not pass over in silence, and Josephus manifests it in …

A commentator

Bonaventure

Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 17 · Written in the 13th century.

proposed

As the body loses its strength, beauty and health in the absence of food, so the soul without the understanding of truth becomes dark and weak, distorted and unstable in all things; and so it needs to be fed. Hence, the unsettled mind, lacking food, …

A commentator

Thomas Aquinas

Commentary on Lamentations · Written before 1274.

proposed

Here is noticed the spoiling of possessions taken away from the people. First is observed the need for withdrawing, as to a deficiency of things needed. As expressed: "All her people groan as they search for bread". Psalm 102:4 thus remarks: "My heart is smitten …

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

): All her people sigh in despondency and despair; they are ready to faint away; their spirits fail, and therefore they sigh, for they seek bread and seek it in vain. They were brought at last to that extremity that there was no bread for the people of the land ( Jer. lii.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

It is time to sigh when the priests, the Lord's ministers, sigh. Her virgins also, that used, with their music and dancing, to grace the solemnities of their feasts, are afflicted and in heaviness. Notice is taken of their service in the day of Zion's prosperity ( Ps. lxviii.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

3 more voices on this verse

The Nineteenth Century3 voices

Sigh ... seek - Are sighing ... are seeking. The words are present participles, describing the condition of the people. After a siege lasting a year and a half the whole country, far and near, would be exhausted. To relieve the soul - See the margin, i. e. to bring back life to them. They bring out their jewels and precious articles to obtain with them at least a meal.

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

52:6). given . . . pleasant things for meat-- (2Ki 6:25; Job 2:4). relieve . . . soul--literally, "to cause the soul or life to return." for I am become vile--Her sins and consequent sorrows are made the plea in craving God's mercy.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

They have given their pleasant things - Jerusalem is compared to a woman brought into great straits, who parts with her jewels and trinkets in order to purchase by them the necessaries of life.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

The oppressor extended his hand. Ammon and Mo’av. 40 Alternatively, Nevuchadnetzar. (Targum)
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Lamentations 1:10:1, via Sefaria, The Metsudah Five Megillot, Lakewood, N.J., 2001
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
May this not happen to you. Such a calamity should not happen to all those who transgress the law.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Lamentations 1:12:1, via Sefaria, The Metsudah Five Megillot, Lakewood, N.J., 2001

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

16 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • כָּל־all

    kol-H3605 →5413 times

  • עַמָּ֤הּpeople its

    ʾamahH5971 →1873 times

  • נֶאֱנָחִים֙[are] groaning

    neenachimH584 →13 times

  • מְבַקְּשִׁ֣ים[are] seeking

    mevakeshimH1245 →

  • לֶ֔חֶםbread

    lechemH3899 →298 times

  • נָתְנ֧וּthey have given

    natenuH5414 →2011 times

  • מַחֲמַדֵּיהֶ֛םprecious things their

    machamodeihemH4261 →13 times

  • בְּאֹ֖כֶלfor food

    beokhelH400 →

  • לְהָשִׁ֣יבto restore

    lehashivH7725 →1056 times

  • נָ֑פֶשׁlife

    nafeshH5315 →754 times

  • רְאֵ֤הsee

    reehH7200 →1300 times

  • יְהוָה֙O Yahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • וְֽהַבִּ֔יטָהand look !

    vehabitahH5027 →69 times

  • כִּ֥יfor

    kiH3588 →4482 times

  • הָיִ֖יתִיI am

    hayitiH1961 →3559 times

  • זוֹלֵלָֽה׃ סdespised

    zolelahH2151 →

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

18 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Jeremiah 52:6By the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine in the city was so severe that the people of the land had no food.6 worksLamentations 2:12They cry out to their mothers: “Where is the grain and wine?” as they faint like the wounded in the streets of the city, as their lives fade away in the arms of their mothers.5 worksJeremiah 38:9“My lord the king, these men have acted wickedly in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet. They have dropped him into the cistern, where he will starve to death, for there is no more bread in the city.”5 worksLamentations 1:19I called out to my lovers, but they have betrayed me. My priests and elders perished in the city while they searched for food to keep themselves alive.4 worksDeuteronomy 28:52–57They will besiege all the cities throughout your land, until the high and fortified walls in which you trust have fallen. They will besiege all your cities throughout the land that the LORD your God has given you.3 works1 Samuel 30:11–12Now his men found an Egyptian in the field and brought him to David. They gave the man water to drink and food to eat—3 works
The other 12 cross-references, with their words ▾
Lamentations 1:8Jerusalem has sinned greatly; therefore she has become an object of scorn. All who honored her now despise her, for they have seen her nakedness; she herself groans and turns away.3 worksGenesis 47:19Why should we perish before your eyes—we and our land as well? Purchase us and our land in exchange for food. Then we, along with our land, will be slaves to Pharaoh. Give us seed that we may live and not die, and that the land may not become desolate.”3 worksLamentations 4:4–10The nursing infant’s tongue clings in thirst to the roof of his mouth. Little children beg for bread, but no one gives them any.2 worksJeremiah 19:9I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh in the siege and distress inflicted on them by their enemies who seek their lives.’2 worksLamentations 1:9Her uncleanness stains her skirts; she did not consider her end. Her downfall was astounding; there was no one to comfort her. Look, O LORD, on my affliction, for the enemy has triumphed!2 worksPsalms 25:15–19My eyes are always on the LORD, for He will free my feet from the mesh.2 worksJob 40:4“Behold, I am insignificant. How can I reply to You? I place my hand over my mouth.2 works2 Kings 6:25So there was a great famine in Samaria. Indeed, they besieged the city so long that a donkey’s head sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a quarter cab of dove’s dung sold for five shekels of silver.2 worksEzekiel 5:16–17When I shower you with the deadly arrows of famine and destruction that I will send to destroy you, I will intensify the famine against you and cut off your supply of food.2 worksEzekiel 4:15–17“Look,” He replied, “I will let you use cow dung instead of human excrement, and you may bake your bread over that.”2 worksLamentations 2:20Look, O LORD, and consider: Whom have You ever treated like this? Should women eat their offspring, the infants they have nurtured? Should priests and prophets be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?2 worksPsalms 9:13Be merciful to me, O LORD; see how my enemies afflict me! Lift me up from the gates of death,2 works

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Jeremiah 52:6

    By the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine in the city was so severe that the people of the land had no food.

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 3:1

      For behold, the Lord GOD of Hosts is about to remove from Jerusalem and Judah both supply and support: the whole supply of food and water,

    • Jeremiah 39:2

      And on the ninth day of the fourth month of Zedekiah’s eleventh year, the city was breached.

    • 2 Kings 25:3

      By the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine in the city was so severe that the people of the land had no food.

    • Jeremiah 38:9

      “My lord the king, these men have acted wickedly in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet. They have dropped him into the cistern, where he will starve to death, for there…

    • Jeremiah 21:9

      Whoever stays in this city will die by sword and famine and plague, but whoever goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who besiege you will live; he will retain his life like a…

  • Through

    Jeremiah 38:9

    “My lord the king, these men have acted wickedly in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet. They have dropped him into the cistern, where he will starve to death, for there…

    it leads to

    • Jeremiah 37:21

      So King Zedekiah gave orders for Jeremiah to be placed in the courtyard of the guard and given a loaf of bread daily from the street of the bakers, until all the bread in…

    • Esther 7:4–6

      For my people and I have been sold out to destruction, death, and annihilation. If we had merely been sold as menservants and maidservants, I would have remained silent, because no such distress would…

    • Jeremiah 52:6

      By the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine in the city was so severe that the people of the land had no food.

Where this verse is studied

About Lamentations

People Mourn over the Destruction of Jerusalem — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
People Mourn over the Destruction of Jerusalem — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Lamentations: the study guide →Read Lamentations 1 →
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bonaventure, Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 17; Glossa Ordinaria, Commentary (church-history corpus); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Lamentations.

Read on in Lamentations 1 →