Lamentations 5:13
They force our young men to grind flour with millstones, and boys stagger while they are forced to carry heavy loads of firewood.
Translation for Translators
In The King James Version
They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood.
In Context
12Our enemies have hanged our leaders, and they do not respect our elders.
Cross References
Exodus 2:11One day, after Moses/I had grown up, he/I went out of the palace area to see his/my people, the Hebrews. He/I saw how they were being forced to work very hard. He/I also saw an Egyptian man beating one of his/my Hebrew people.
Exodus 23:5If you see someone’s donkey that has fallen down because of its heavy load, help the owner to get the donkey up again, even if he is someone who hates you. Do not just walk away without helping him.
Nehemiah 5:1Later, many of the men and their wives protested loudly about what some of the other Jews were doing.
Isaiah 47:2You will be slaves, so take heavy stones and grind grain like slave women do. Take off your beautiful veils and take off your robes as you prepare to cross streams to go where you will be forced to go.
Matthew 23:4They require you to obey many rules that are difficult to obey. But they themselves do not help anyone obey those rules. It is as if they are tying up loads that are hard to carry and putting them on your shoulders [MET] for you to carry. But they themselves do not desire to help anyone obey those laws. They are like people who do not want to lift even the slightest load that they could lift [MET]
Matthew Henry on Lamentations 5:2-17
An Appeal to God; Complicated Sorrows. ( b. c. 588.) 1 Remember, O Lord , what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach. 2 Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens. 3 We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows. 4 We have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold unto us. 5 Our necks are under persecution: we labour, and have no rest. 6 We have given the hand to the Egyptians, and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread. 7 Our fathers have sinned, and are not;… Read the whole commentary →