Our ancestors sinned, but they have died— and we are suffering the punishment they deserved!
Parallel translations
- WEB Our fathers sinned, and are no more; We have borne their iniquities.
- KJV Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities.
- BSB Our fathers sinned and are no more, but we bear their punishment.
- NKJV Our fathers sinned and are no more, But we bear their iniquities.
- NASB Our fathers sinned, and are gone; It is we who have been burdened with the punishment for their wrongdoings.
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
They confess bearing the consequences of their fathers' sins, now that those fathers are gone.
Overview
The people acknowledge suffering for the accumulated iniquity of previous generations, who have died. This recognizes the corporate and generational reach of sin's consequences, though Scripture also affirms each person answers for his own sin (Ezek. 18:20). The verse honestly owns the weight of inherited guilt, which points to the one Mediator who bears sin's full burden for His people (Rom. 5:18-19).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Jer 16:12and you have done evil more than your fathers; for, behold, you walk every one after the stubbornness of his evil heart, so that you don’t listen to me.
- Jer 31:29“In those days they shall say no more, “‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’
- Ezek 18:2“What do you mean, that you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’?
- Jer 14:20We acknowledge, Yahweh, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers; for we have sinned against you.
- Exod 20:5you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me,
- Jer 31:15Yahweh says: “A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.”
- Gen 42:36Jacob, their father, said to them, “You have bereaved me of my children! Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take Benjamin away. All these things are against me.”
- Matt 23:32–36Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers.
- Job 7:21Why do you not pardon my disobedience, and take away my iniquity? For now shall I lie down in the dust. You will seek me diligently, but I shall not be.”
- Job 7:8The eye of him who sees me shall see me no more. Your eyes shall be on me, but I shall not be.
- Zech 1:5Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?
- Gen 42:13They said, “We, your servants, are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and behold, the youngest is today with our father, and one is no more.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 5:7 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
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.