Lamentations 5:7
in Lamentations 5Our fathers sinned and are no more, but we bear their punishment.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Our fathers sinned, and are not; And we have borne their iniquities.
KJV
Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities.
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This verse in Lamentations 5
Commentary
7 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
And are not; and we ... - Or, they are not; “we have borne their iniquities.” Our fathers who began this national apostasy died before the hour of punishment.
This site's exposition
Our fathers sinned and are no more
on Lamentations 5:7-8
Verse 7 states a burden: “Our fathers sinned and are no more, but we bear their punishment”. Jeremiah 31:29-30 answers the same complaint with each person's own account for sin. Verse 8 completes the humiliation: “Slaves rule over us; there is no one to deliver us from their hands”.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Here the people's slavery is exaggerated. So, first are viewed the conditions of those enslaved, as they are being punished for the sins of others. As said: "Our fathers sinned, and are no more, and we bear their iniquities." Since our fathers have died: "we …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Now, though herein God is righteous, yet it must be owned that our case is pitiable, and worthy of compassion." Note, If we be penitent and patient under what we suffer for the sins of our fathers, we may expect that he who punishes will pity, and will soon return in mercy to us.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
Our fathers have sinned, and are not,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
(Jer 31:29). borne their iniquities--that is, the punishment of them. The accumulated sins of our fathers from age to age, as well as our own, are visited on us.
Our fathers have sinned, and are not - Nations, as such, cannot be punished in the other world; therefore national judgments are to be looked for only in this life. The punishment which the Jewish nation had been meriting for a series of years came now upon them, because they copied and increased the sins of their fathers, and the cup of their iniquity was full. Thus the children might be said to bear the sins of the fathers, that is, in temporal punishment, for in no other way does God visit these upon the children. See Eze 18:1, etc.
The words behind it
6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אֲבֹתֵ֤ינוּ | ʾavoteinu | ancestors our | H1 → | |
| חָֽטְאוּ֙ | chateu | they sinned | H2398 → | 238 times |
| וְאֵינָ֔ם | veeinam | and not [are] they | H369 → | 789 times |
| וַאֲנַ֖חְנוּ | vaanachnu | and we | H587 → | |
| עֲוֹנֹתֵיהֶ֥ם | ʾavonoteihem | iniquities their | H5771 → | 233 times |
| סָבָֽלְנוּ׃ | savalnu | we have borne | H5445 → |
אֲבֹתֵ֤ינוּancestors our
ʾavoteinuH1 →
חָֽטְאוּ֙they sinned
chateuH2398 →238 times
וְאֵינָ֔םand not [are] they
veeinamH369 →789 times
וַאֲנַ֖חְנוּand we
vaanachnuH587 →
עֲוֹנֹתֵיהֶ֥םiniquities their
ʾavonoteihemH5771 →233 times
סָבָֽלְנוּ׃we have borne
savalnuH5445 →
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
Exodus 20:5You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth…
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 5:9
You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth…
- Numbers 14:18
‘The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in loving devotion, forgiving iniquity and transgression. Yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished; He will visit the iniquity of the fathers upon…
- Deuteronomy 4:24
For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
- Exodus 34:14
For you must not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
- Joshua 24:19
But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the LORD, for He is a holy God; He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your rebellion or your sins.
- Deuteronomy 5:9
Through
Ezekiel 18:2“What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge’?
it leads to
- Jeremiah 31:29–30
“In those days, it will no longer be said: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge.’
- Jeremiah 31:29–30
Through
Jeremiah 31:29“In those days, it will no longer be said: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge.’
it leads to
- Ezekiel 18:2–3
“What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge’?
- Ezekiel 18:2–3
Through
Jeremiah 16:12And you have done more evil than your fathers. See how each of you follows the stubbornness of his evil heart instead of obeying Me.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 7:26
Yet they would not listen to Me or incline their ear, but they stiffened their necks and did more evil than their fathers.
- Jeremiah 7:26
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies3
On this verse
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); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; 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.