The young men bare the mill; The children stumbled under the wood.
Parallel translations
- KJV They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood.
- BSB Young men toil at millstones; boys stagger under loads of wood.
- NKJV Young men ground at the millstones; Boys staggered under loads of wood.
- NASB Young men worked at the grinding mill, And youths staggered under loads of wood.
- NLT Young men are led away to work at millstones, and boys stagger under heavy loads of wood.
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
Young men are forced to grind at the mill like slaves, and children stagger under heavy loads of wood. The young and weak are crushed by forced labor.
Overview
Grinding grain at the mill was demeaning servile work, and children buckle beneath burdens too heavy for them—both signs of a people reduced to bondage. The verse mourns how oppression falls hardest on the vulnerable. It stirs compassion and reminds us that Christ invites the heavy-laden to find rest in Him (Matthew 11:28-30).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Judg 16:21The Philistines laid hold on him, and put out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he ground at the mill in the prison.
- Matt 23:4For they bind heavy burdens that are grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not lift a finger to help them.
- Exod 1:11Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. They built storage cities for Pharaoh: Pithom and Raamses.
- Isa 47:2Take the millstones, and grind flour. Remove your veil, lift up your skirt, uncover your legs, and wade through the rivers.
- Job 31:10then let my wife grind for another, and let others sleep with her.
- Exod 2:11In those days, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his brothers, and looked at their burdens. He saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his brothers.
- Isa 58:6“Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen: to release the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?
- Exod 11:5and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the female servant who is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of livestock.
- Neh 5:1–5Then there arose a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brothers the Jews.
- Exod 23:5If you see the donkey of him who hates you fallen down under his burden, don’t leave him, you shall surely help him with it.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 5:13 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.