In the days of her affliction and wandering Jerusalem remembers all the treasures that were hers in days of old. When her people fell into enemy hands she received no help. Her enemies looked upon her, laughing at her downfall.
Parallel translations
- WEB Jerusalem remembers in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that were from the days of old: when her people fell into the hand of the adversary, and no one helped her, The adversaries saw her, they mocked at her desolations.
- KJV Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old, when her people fell into the hand of the enemy, and none did help her: the adversaries saw her, and did mock at her sabbaths.
- NKJV In the days of her affliction and roaming, Jerusalem remembers all her pleasant things That she had in the days of old. When her people fell into the hand of the enemy, With no one to help her, The adversaries saw her And mocked at her downfall.
- NASB In the days of her affliction and homelessness Jerusalem remembers all her treasures That were hers since the days of old, When her people fell into the hand of the adversary And no one helped her. The adversaries saw her, They laughed at her ruin.
- NLT In the midst of her sadness and wandering, Jerusalem remembers her ancient splendor. But now she has fallen to her enemy, and there is no one to help her. Her enemy struck her down and laughed as she fell.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
In her misery Jerusalem remembers former blessings while enemies mock her ruin. It shows how memory of past grace deepens present grief.
Overview
Jerusalem recalls her 'pleasant things' from days of old even as adversaries jeer at her downfall with no one to help. The bitter contrast between former glory and present mockery intensifies her lament. This experience of being mocked in affliction foreshadows the suffering of Christ, who was derided yet bore reproach to bring his people lasting help (Psalm 22:7-8).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Ps 79:4We have become a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and derision to those around us.
- Deut 4:34–37Or has any god tried to take as his own a nation out of another nation—by trials, signs, wonders, and war, by a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors—as the LORD your God did for you in Egypt, before your eyes?
- Ps 77:5–9I considered the days of old, the years long in the past.
- Ps 42:4These things come to mind as I pour out my soul: how I walked with the multitude, leading the procession to the house of God with shouts of joy and praise.
- Lam 4:17All the while our eyes were failing as we looked in vain for help. We watched from our towers for a nation that could not save us.
- Hos 2:7She will pursue her lovers but not catch them; she will seek them but not find them. Then she will say, ‘I will return to my first husband, for then I was better off than now.’
- Deut 8:7–9For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks and fountains and springs that flow through the valleys and hills;
- Ps 147:19–20He declares His word to Jacob, His statutes and judgments to Israel.
- Isa 5:1–4I will sing for my beloved a song of his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.
- Mic 4:11But now many nations have assembled against you, saying, “Let her be defiled, and let us feast our eyes on Zion.”
- Luke 15:17Finally he came to his senses and said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have plenty of food? But here I am, starving to death!
- Ps 137:3–4for there our captors requested a song; our tormentors demanded songs of joy: “Sing us a song of Zion.”
- Lam 2:15–16All who pass by clap their hands at you in scorn. They hiss and shake their heads at the Daughter of Jerusalem: “Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth?”
- Ps 77:3I remembered You, O God, and I groaned; I mused and my spirit grew faint. Selah
- Job 29:2“How I long for the months gone by, for the days when God watched over me,
- Luke 16:25But Abraham answered, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things. But now he is comforted here, while you are in agony.
- Jer 37:7“This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says that you are to tell the king of Judah, who sent you to Me: Behold, Pharaoh’s army, which has marched out to help you, will go back to its own land of Egypt.
- Deut 4:7–8For what nation is great enough to have a god as near to them as the LORD our God is to us whenever we call on Him?
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Christ at the center
The weeping over a ruined city and the steadfast mercies that are new every morning point to the man of sorrows who wept over Jerusalem and whose mercy rises new from the grave.
How Lamentations 1:7 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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