They ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah.
Parallel translations
- WEB They ravished the women in Zion, The virgins in the cities of Judah.
- BSB Women have been ravished in Zion, virgins in the cities of Judah.
- NKJV They ravished the women in Zion, The maidens in the cities of Judah.
- NASB They violated the women in Zion, The virgins in the cities of Judah.
- NLT Our enemies rape the women in Jerusalem and the young girls in all the towns of Judah.
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
The conquering soldiers committed sexual violence against the women of Jerusalem and the towns of Judah. It records the brutal degradation inflicted on the helpless.
Overview
The verse names the assault of women in Zion and the virgins of Judah, one of the cruelest atrocities of conquest in the ancient world. Lamentations does not hide such horrors but lays them honestly before God as part of its grief. Scripture's refusal to look away from human evil heightens our longing for the righteous Judge who will set all wrongs right (Revelation 21:4).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- Isa 13:16Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished.
- Zech 14:2For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
- Deut 28:30Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her: thou shalt build an house, and thou shalt not dwell therein: thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not gather the grapes thereof.
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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 5:11 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.