Lamentations 5:16
in Lamentations 5The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned!
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The crown is fallen from our head: Woe unto us! for we have sinned.
KJV
The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned!
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This verse in Lamentations 5
Commentary
5 notes on this verseThe crown is fallen from our head,.... Or, "the crown of our head is fallen" (a); all their honour and glory as a nation were gone; the glory of their kingdom and priesthood, to both which a crown or mitre belonged; the glory of church and state. Aben Ezra interprets it of the temple, the place of the divine Majesty.
This site's exposition
The crown has fallen from our head
on Lamentations 5:16-18
Verse 16 mourns that “The crown has fallen from our head” and names the cause as confession: “we have sinned”. The body answers with faint hearts and dim eyes, and the grief lands on one hill, “Mount Zion, which lies desolate, patrolled by foxes”.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Here is indicated the glory of dignities. First, the glory of a king. As stated: "The crown has fallen from our head; woe to us, for we have sinned!" As Job 19:9 records: "He has stripped from me my glory, and taken the crown from …
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
The crown is fallen from our head - At feasts, marriages, etc., they used to crown themselves with garlands of flowers; all festivity of this kind was now at an end. Or it may refer to their having lost all sovereignty, being made slaves.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Literally, “The crown of our head is fallen,” i. e. what was our chief ornament and dignity is lost; the independence of the nation, and all that gave them rank and honor.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
For this our hearts ached, etc. Because of that which is delineated in the verse following, “Over Mount Tzion, which was devastated [and] foxes meandered over it.” 13 Below, verse. Our hearts ache only for the destruction of Mount Tzion, and nothing else. (Palgei Mayim)
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
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| נָֽפְלָה֙ | nafelah | it has fallen | H5307 → | 435 times |
| עֲטֶ֣רֶת | ʾateret | [the] crown of | H5850 → | |
| רֹאשֵׁ֔נוּ | roshenu | head our | H7218 → | 599 times |
| אֽוֹי־ | ʾo- | woe! | H188 → | |
| נָ֥א | na' | please | H4994 → | |
| לָ֖נוּ | lanu | to us | ||
| כִּ֥י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| חָטָֽאנוּ׃ | chatanu | we have sinned | H2398 → | 238 times |
נָֽפְלָה֙it has fallen
nafelahH5307 →435 times
עֲטֶ֣רֶת[the] crown of
ʾateretH5850 →
רֹאשֵׁ֔נוּhead our
roshenuH7218 →599 times
אֽוֹי־woe!
ʾo-H188 →
נָ֥אplease
na'H4994 →
לָ֖נוּto us
lanu
כִּ֥יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
חָטָֽאנוּ׃we have sinned
chatanuH2398 →238 times
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
Jeremiah 13:18Say to the king and to the queen mother: “Take a lowly seat, for your glorious crowns have fallen from your heads.”
it leads to
- Jeremiah 22:26
I will hurl you and the mother who gave you birth into another land, where neither of you were born—and there you both will die.
- 2 Kings 24:12
Jehoiachin king of Judah, his mother, his servants, his commanders, and his officials all surrendered to the king of Babylon. So in the eighth year of his reign, the king of Babylon took him…
- 2 Kings 24:15
Nebuchadnezzar carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, as well as the king’s mother, his wives, his officials, and the leading men of the land. He took them into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.
- 2 Chronicles 33:19
His prayer and how God received his plea, as well as all his sin and unfaithfulness, and the sites where he built high places and set up Asherah poles and idols before he humbled…
- 2 Chronicles 33:12
And in his distress, Manasseh sought the favor of the LORD his God and earnestly humbled himself before the God of his fathers.
- Jeremiah 22:26
Through
Lamentations 1:1How lonely lies the city, once so full of people! She who was great among the nations has become a widow. The princess of the provinces has become a slave.
it leads to
- Isaiah 3:26
And the gates of Zion will lament and mourn; destitute, she will sit on the ground.
- Revelation 18:16–17
saying: “Woe, woe to the great city, clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls!
- Isaiah 3:26
Through
Job 19:9He has stripped me of my honor and removed the crown from my head.
it leads to
- Psalms 89:44
You have ended his splendor and cast his throne to the ground.
- Psalms 89:44
Where this verse is studied
About Lamentations
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); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Lamentations.