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Lamentations 5:8

Servants have ruled over us: there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand.
Lamentations 5:8 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB Servants rule over us: There is no one to deliver us out of their hand.
  • BSB Slaves rule over us; there is no one to deliver us from their hands.
  • NKJV Servants rule over us; There is none to deliver us from their hand.
  • NASB Slaves rule over us; There is no one to rescue us from their hand.
  • NLT Slaves have now become our masters; there is no one left to rescue us.

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

Slaves now rule over them, and there is no one to rescue them from their power.

Overview

In a bitter reversal, mere servants of the Babylonian empire now lord it over God's people, with no deliverer in sight. This humiliation underscores their helplessness apart from God. The cry 'no one to deliver us' voices the deep human need that is answered only in the Redeemer, Jesus Christ, who saves those none other could rescue (Ps. 142:4; Heb. 7:25).

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 12

  • Neh 5:15But the former governors that had been before me were chargeable unto the people, and had taken of them bread and wine, beside forty shekels of silver; yea, even their servants bare rule over the people: but so did not I, because of the fear of God.
  • Prov 30:22For a servant when he reigneth; and a fool when he is filled with meat;
  • Zech 11:6For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD: but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbour’s hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them.
  • Ps 7:2Lest he tear my soul like a lion, rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver.
  • Job 5:4His children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate, neither is there any to deliver them.
  • Deut 28:43The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low.
  • Gen 9:25And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
  • Neh 2:19But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do? will ye rebel against the king?
  • Job 10:7Thou knowest that I am not wicked; and there is none that can deliver out of thine hand.
  • Hos 2:10And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of mine hand.
  • Isa 43:13Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it?
  • Ps 50:22Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (1)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Lamentations videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Lamentations 5:8YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on LamentationsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 5:8 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.