Lamentations 5:12
in Lamentations 5Princes have been hung up by their hands; elders receive no respect.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Princes were hanged up by their hand: The faces of elders were not honored.
KJV
Princes are hanged up by their hand: the faces of elders were not honoured.
⋯
This verse in Lamentations 5
Commentary
8 notes on this versePrinces are hanged up by their hand,.... According to some, as Aben Ezra observes, by the hand of the servants before mentioned; however, by the hand of the Chaldeans or Babylonians; see Jer 52:
This site's exposition
Women have been ravished in Zion
on Lamentations 5:11-12
Verse 11 names an atrocity of the conquest plainly: “Women have been ravished in Zion, virgins in the cities of Judah”. Verse 12 adds an outrage against rank: “Princes have been hung up by their hands; elders receive no respect”. The city's leaders are shamed along with its women.
This site's exposition
Princes have been hung up by their hands
Albert Barnes reads the verse as princes put to death and hung up by the hands, a disgrace like Saul's body in 1 Samuel 31:10. Jeremiah 52:10 records the officials of Judah killed at Riblah. Old age brought the elders the same shame.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
"Princes are hung up by their hands; no respect is shown to the elders." That is, as if upon a hook, so as displaying their riches. As Deuteronomy 28:49-50 states: "The Lord will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Some think that the dead bodies of the princes, after they were slain with the sword, were hung up, as the bodies of Saul's sons, in disgrace to them, and as it were to expiate the nation's guilt. (3.) No respect was shown to magistrates and those in authority: The faces of elders, elders in age, elders in office, were not honoured.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
Princes are hanged up by their hand - It is very probable that this was a species of punishment. They were suspended from hooks in the wall by their hands till they died through torture and exhaustion. The body of Saul was fastened to the wall of Bethshan, probably in the same way; but his head had already been taken off. They were hung in this way that they might be devoured by the fowls of the air.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
hanged . . . by their hand--a piece of wanton cruelty invented by the Chaldeans. GROTIUS translates, "Princes were hung by the hand of the enemy"; hanging was a usual mode of execution (Ge 40:19). elders--officials (La 4:16).
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
After the princes had been put to death their bodies were hung up by the hand to expose them to public contumely. Old age, again, no more availed to shield men from shameful treatment than the high rank of the princes. Such treatment of conquered enemies was not uncommon in ancient warfare.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
Encumbered with millstones. When the enemies led them away in neck irons, they would place on their shoulders millstones and burdens in order to tire them. 10 Alternatively, ‘youths were forced to grind wheat,’ a task which drains their strength.
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. 3 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
7 Hebrew wordsEvery 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.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| שָׂרִים֙ | sarim | princes | H8269 → | 421 times |
| בְּיָדָ֣ם | beyadam | by hand their | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| נִתְל֔וּ | nitlu | they have been hanged | H8518 → | |
| פְּנֵ֥י | penei | [the] face of | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| זְקֵנִ֖ים | zekenim | elders | H2205 → | 178 times |
| לֹ֥א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| נֶהְדָּֽרוּ׃ | nehdaru | they have been honored | H1921 → |
שָׂרִים֙princes
sarimH8269 →421 times
בְּיָדָ֣םby hand their
beyadamH3027 →1618 times
נִתְל֔וּthey have been hanged
nitluH8518 →
פְּנֵ֥י[the] face of
peneiH6440 →2123 times
זְקֵנִ֖יםelders
zekenimH2205 →178 times
לֹ֥אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
נֶהְדָּֽרוּ׃they have been honored
nehdaruH1921 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach 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
Isaiah 47:6I was angry with My people; I profaned My heritage, and I placed them under your control. You showed them no mercy; even on the elderly you laid a most heavy yoke.
it leads to
- 2 Chronicles 28:9
But a prophet of the LORD named Oded was there, and he went out to meet the army that returned to Samaria. “Look,” he said to them, “because of His wrath against Judah, the…
- Zechariah 1:15
but I am fiercely angry with the nations that are at ease. For I was a little angry, but they have added to the calamity.’
- Deuteronomy 28:50
a ruthless nation with no respect for the old and no pity for the young.
- Obadiah 1:10
Because of the violence against your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame and cut off forever.
- James 2:13
For judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
- 2 Chronicles 28:9
Through
Lamentations 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?
it leads to
- Lamentations 4:10
The hands of compassionate women have cooked their own children, who became their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
- Jeremiah 19:9
I 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.’
- Lamentations 4:10
Through
Lamentations 2:10The elders of the Daughter of Zion sit on the ground in silence. They have thrown dust on their heads and put on sackcloth. The young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to…
it leads to
- Isaiah 3:26
And the gates of Zion will lament and mourn; destitute, she will sit on the ground.
- Isaiah 3:26
Where this verse is studied
About Lamentations
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, Lamentations; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Lamentations.