Lamentations 5:2
in Lamentations 5Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our houses to foreigners.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Our inheritance is turned unto strangers, Our houses unto aliens.
KJV
Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens.
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This verse in Lamentations 5
Commentary
7 notes on this verseOur inheritance is turned to strangers,.... The land of Canaan in general, which was given to Abraham and his seed to be their inheritance; and their field, and vineyards in particular, which came to them by inheritance from their fathers, were now in the hands of the Chaldeans, strangers to God, and aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, as all Gentiles were, Eph 2:12; our houses to aliens; which they had built or purchased, or their fathers had left them, were now inhabited by those of another country.
This site's exposition
Remember, O LORD, what has happened to us
on Lamentations 5:1-2
Lamentations 5 is a communal prayer of twenty-two verses, the length of the alphabet kept without the letter-by-letter form. It opens as address to the LORD: “Remember, O LORD, what has happened to us”. It turns to loss: “Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our houses to foreigners”.
This site's exposition
turned over to strangers
John Gill takes the inheritance as the land promised to Abraham. Foreigners now held its fields and houses. Adam Clarke adds that those left under Gedaliah were slaves too (Jeremiah 40:9-10).
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Verse 2 considers the people's affliction. First, in general, second by going down to particular persons. As expressed in Verse 11: "Women are ravished in Zion, virgins in the towns of Judah." As to the people's affliction in general are two ideas. First is excluded …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Canaan was their inheritance; it was theirs by promise. God gave it to them and their seed, and they held it by grant from his crown, ( Ps. cxxxvi.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Our inheritance is turned to strangers - The greater part of the Jews were either slain or carried away captive; and even those who were left under Gedaliah were not free, for they were vassals to the Chaldeans.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Turned - “transferred.” The inheritance was the land of Canaan Lev 20:24. Aliens - Or, “foreigners:” i. e. the Chaldaeans upon their conquest of the country.
The words behind it
5 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| נַחֲלָתֵ֙נוּ֙ | nachalatenu | inheritance our | H5159 → | |
| נֶֽהֶפְכָ֣ה | nehefkhah | it has been turned over | H2015 → | 94 times |
| לְזָרִ֔ים | lezarim | to strangers | H2114 → | |
| בָּתֵּ֖ינוּ | bateinu | houses our | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| לְנָכְרִֽים׃ | lenakherim | to foreigners | H5237 → |
נַחֲלָתֵ֙נוּ֙inheritance our
nachalatenuH5159 →
נֶֽהֶפְכָ֣הit has been turned over
nehefkhahH2015 →94 times
לְזָרִ֔יםto strangers
lezarimH2114 →
בָּתֵּ֖ינוּhouses our
bateinuH1004 →2046 times
לְנָכְרִֽים׃to foreigners
lenakherimH5237 →
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
Zephaniah 1:13Their wealth will be plundered and their houses laid waste. They will build houses but not inhabit them, and plant vineyards but never drink their wine.
it leads to
- Amos 5:11
Therefore, because you trample on the poor and exact from him a tax of grain, you will never live in the stone houses you have built; you will never drink the wine from the…
- Micah 6:15
You will sow but not reap; you will press olives but not anoint yourselves with oil; you will tread grapes but not drink the wine.
- Deuteronomy 28:30
You will be pledged in marriage to a woman, but another man will violate her. You will build a house but will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard but will not…
- Amos 5:11
Through
Isaiah 1:7Your land is desolate; your cities are burned with fire. Foreigners devour your fields before you—a desolation demolished by strangers.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 28:33
A people you do not know will eat the produce of your land and of all your toil. All your days you will be oppressed and crushed.
- Deuteronomy 28:43
The foreigner living among you will rise higher and higher above you, while you sink down lower and lower.
- Deuteronomy 28:33
Through
Isaiah 5:17Lambs will graze as in their own pastures, and strangers will feed in the ruins of the wealthy.
it leads to
- Zephaniah 2:6
So the seacoast will become a land of pastures, with wells for shepherds and folds for sheep.
- Zephaniah 2:14
Herds will lie down in her midst, creatures of every kind. Both the desert owl and screech owl will roost atop her pillars. Their calls will sound from the window, but desolation will lie…
- Isaiah 7:25
For fear of the briers and thorns, you will no longer traverse the hills once tilled by the hoe; they will become places for oxen to graze and sheep to trample.
- Zephaniah 2:6
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; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Lamentations.