We get our bread at the risk of our lives because of the sword in the wilderness.
Parallel translations
- WEB We get our bread at the peril of our lives, Because of the sword of the wilderness.
- KJV We gat our bread with the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness.
- NKJV We get our bread at the risk of our lives, Because of the sword in the wilderness.
- NASB We get our bread at the risk of our lives Because of the sword in the wilderness.
- NLT We hunt for food at the risk of our lives, for violence rules the countryside.
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
Even gathering food has become deadly, because raiders and the sword threaten anyone who ventures out. It shows how the siege and its aftermath have stripped away even basic security.
Overview
The survivors of Jerusalem must risk their lives merely to obtain bread, hunted by 'the sword of the wilderness'—roving marauders in the open country. The most ordinary act of provision has become a matter of life and death, exposing the depth of Judah's exposure after the fall. The verse reminds us that life apart from the Lord's protection is precarious; ultimately Christ is the true Bread who gives life that no enemy can take (John 6:35).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Ezek 4:16–17Then He told me, “Son of man, I am going to cut off the supply of food in Jerusalem. They will anxiously eat bread rationed by weight, and in despair they will drink water by measure.
- Ezek 12:18–19“Son of man, eat your bread with trembling, and drink your water with quivering and anxiety.
- Jer 40:9–12Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, swore an oath to them and their men, assuring them, “Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with you.
- Jer 41:18to escape the Chaldeans. For they were afraid of the Chaldeans because Ishmael son of Nethaniah had struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had appointed over the land.
- Jer 41:1–10In the seventh month, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who was a member of the royal family and one of the king’s chief officers, came with ten men to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah, and they ate a meal together there.
- Jer 42:16then the sword you fear will overtake you there, and the famine you dread will follow on your heels into Egypt, and you will die there.
- 2 Sam 23:17saying, “Far be it from me, O LORD, to do this! Is this not the blood of the men who risked their lives?” So he refused to drink it. Such were the exploits of the three mighty men.
- Jer 42:14and if you say, ‘No, but we will go to the land of Egypt and live there, where we will not see war or hear the sound of the ram’s horn or hunger for bread,’
- Judg 6:11Then the angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to hide it from the Midianites.
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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 5:9 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.