We hunt for food at the risk of our lives, for violence rules the countryside.
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.
- BSB We get our bread at the risk of our lives because of the sword in 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.
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 4:16–17Moreover he said to me, “Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem. They will eat bread by weight, and with fearfulness; and they shall drink water by measure, and in dismay;
- Ezek 12:18–19“Son of man, eat your bread with quaking, and drink your water with trembling and with fearfulness.
- Jer 40:9–12Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan swore to them and to their men, saying, “Don’t be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.
- Jer 41:18because of the Chaldeans; for they were afraid of them, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had killed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon made governor over the land.
- Jer 41:1–10Now in the seventh month, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal offspring and one of the chief officers of the king, and ten men with him, came to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah; and there they ate bread together in Mizpah.
- Jer 42:16then it shall happen, that the sword, which you fear, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt; and the famine, about which you are afraid, shall follow close behind you there in Egypt; and you shall die there.
- 2 Sam 23:17He said, “Be it far from me, Yahweh, that I should do this! Isn’t this the blood of the men who risked their lives to go?” Therefore he would not drink it. The three mighty men did these things.
- Jer 42:14saying, “No; but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread; and there will we dwell:”’
- Judg 6:11Yahweh’s angel came, and sat under the oak which was in Ophrah, that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite. His son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press, to hide it from the Midianites.
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 5:9 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.