Servants rule over us. There is no one to deliver us out of their hand.
Parallel Translations
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Servants rule over us. There is no one to deliver us out of their hand.
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Servants have ruled over us: there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand.
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Servants rule over us; there is none to deliver us out of their hand.
Cross-references (12)
Passages linked to Lamentations 5:8 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Nehemiah 5:15 But the former governors who were before me were supported by the people, and took bread and wine from them, plus forty shekels of silver; yes, even their servants ruled over the people; but I didn’t do so, because of the fear of God.
- Proverbs 30:22 For a servant when he is king, a fool when he is filled with food,
- Zechariah 11:6 For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land,” says Yahweh; “but, behold, I will deliver the men everyone into his neighbor’s hand, and into the hand of his king. They will strike the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them.”
- Psalms 7:2 lest they tear apart my soul like a lion, ripping it in pieces, while there is no one to deliver.
- Genesis 9:25 He said, “Canaan is cursed. He will be a servant of servants to his brothers.”
- Deuteronomy 28:43 The foreigner who is among you will mount up above you higher and higher, and you will come down lower and lower.
- Nehemiah 2:19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite servant, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they ridiculed us, and despised us, and said, “What is this thing that you are doing? Will you rebel against the king?”
- Job 5:4 His children are far from safety. They are crushed in the gate. Neither is there any to deliver them,
- Job 10:7 Although you know that I am not wicked, there is no one who can deliver out of your hand.
- Psalms 50:22 “Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you into pieces, and there be no one to deliver.
- Isaiah 43:13 Yes, since the day was, I am he. There is no one who can deliver out of my hand. I will work, and who can hinder it?”
- Hosea 2:10 Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one will deliver her out of my hand.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain Another circumstance aggravated the calamity of the people, that…
Another circumstance aggravated the calamity of the people, that they came under the power of servants, which is more degrading than when the rich and the eminent in wealth and power make us their servants. For it is no shame to serve a king, or at, least a man who possesses some eminence; for that servitude which is not apparently degrading is deemed tolerable. But when we become the servants of servants, it is a most afflicting degradation, and most grievously wounds our minds.
It is, then, for this indignity that Jeremiah now expostulates, and says that servants ruled over them. There is, indeed, no doubt but that they were driven into exile by some of the lowest; for the Chaldeans thought it right to exercise towards them every kind of cruelty. But it was yet a very mournful thing for God’s children to be the slaves of servants; for they were before a sacerdotal kingdom, and God had so taken them under his protection, that their condition was better and more desirable than that of any other kingdom. As, then, they had been robbed of their liberty, and not only so, but also made subject to servants, the change was sad in the extreme. Therefore the Prophet sought another occasion to plead for mercy, when he said that they were ruled by servants. It now follows, —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Lam 5:8 Servants have ruled over us: [there is]…
Lam 5:8 Servants have ruled over us: [there is] none that doth deliver [us] out of their hand.
Ver. 8. Servants have ruled over us.] And they are usually most insolent, as was Tobiah the servant. {Neh 2:19} Cicero, after the defeat given to! Pompey, complaineth in a certain epistle, Lords we could not away with, and now we are forced to serve our fellow servant. This was Canaan’s curse, to be a servant of servants. {Gen 9:25} {See Trapp on "Gen 9:25"}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Either those who sometimes were our servants, tributary to…
Either those who sometimes were our servants, tributary to us, or the posterity of Ham, condemned of old to be servants to our forefather Shem, Gen 9:26; or the servants of those masters whom we serve in Babylon: and none will help us and give us more liberty.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Servants have ruled over us,.... The Targum is,
Servants have ruled over us,.... The Targum is,
"the sons of Ham, who were given to be servants to the sons of Shem, they have ruled over us;''
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referring to the prophecy of Noah, Gen 9:26; or such as had been tributary to the Jews, as the Edomites; so Aben Ezra; the Babylon, an, are meant; and not the nobles and principal inhabitants only, but even their servants, had power and authority over the Jews and they were at their beck and command; which made their servitude the more disagreeable and intolerable:
there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand; out of the hand of these servants.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 8. Servants have ruled over us ] To…
Verse 8. Servants have ruled over us ] To be subject to such is the most painful and dishonourable bondage: -
Quio domini faciant, audent cum talia fures?
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Virg. Ecl. iii. 16.
"Since slaves so insolent are grown,
What may not masters do?"
Perhaps he here alludes to the Chaldean soldiers, whose will the wretched Jews were obliged to obey.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Servants - i. e. Slaves. A terrible degradation to…
Servants - i. e. Slaves. A terrible degradation to a high-spirited Jew.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Servants. One had command over another, Matthew xxiv. 45.…
Servants. One had command over another, Matthew xxiv. 45. The Chaldeans were like slaves, and the race of Cham was condemned to servitude, Genesis ix. 26. (Calmet) --- The Jews had formerly dominion over Edom, &c., who now treated them so cruelly. (Menochius) (Lyranus)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Servants . . . ruled . . . us--Servants…
Servants . . . ruled . . . us--Servants under the Chaldean governors ruled the Jews (Neh 5:15). Israel, once a "kingdom of priests" (Exo 19:6), is become like Canaan, "a servant of servants," according to the curse (Gen 9:25). The Chaldeans were designed to be "servants" of Shem, being descended from Ham (Gen 9:26). Now through the Jews' sin, their positions are reversed.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain INDIVIDUALIZING ILLUSTRATIONS, Lam_5:8-18.
INDIVIDUALIZING ILLUSTRATIONS, Lam_5:8-18.
8. Servants (slaves) have ruled over us — Who were these “servants?” The Chaldean soldiers, servants of Nebuchadrezzar, (Rosenmuller, etc.;) the Chaldeans, but recently tributary to the Assyrians, (Kaltschmidt, quoted by Keil,) the Chaldean satraps, servants of the king of Babylon, (Ewald;) slaves employed as overseers and task-masters of the captives on the march, (Nagelsbach.) Better is it to recognise in the word a bitter allusion to the fact that in oriental countries, at this time, it was not unusual for slaves to come to high office, as is illustrated in the cases of Joseph and Daniel. In a rude and comparatively unorganized condition of society personal skill and physical prowess sometimes overbear all other considerations, and bring their possessors to places of power.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 8. Servants rule] The reference may be to cases…
8. Servants rule] The reference may be to cases where slaves actually rose to positions of authority. Cp. Tobiah in Neh_2:10; Neh_2:19. Budde suggests that such persons may have seized upon property (cp. Hab_1:6) and forced the Jews to earn their bread under them as day-labourers.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (8) Servants have ruled over us.—The Chaldæans, it would…
(8) Servants have ruled over us.—The Chaldæans, it would seem, added insult to injury, sending as rulers those who had filled menial offices in the courts of their kings. (Comp. Jer_39:3.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Servants have ruled; rather, slaves. The Babylonians in general…
Servants have ruled; rather, slaves. The Babylonians in general might be called slaves, by comparison with the "kingdom of priests", (Exo_19:6) and the "sons" of Jehovah. (Isa_45:11 Hos_1:10) Or the expression may mean that even baseborn hangers on of the conquering host assumed the right to command the defenceless captives.
None to deliver.
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Bitterness was added to the misery of the Jews when Chaldean slaves advanced to eminence and power on account of their ability were placed in authority over them. But there was no choice; resistance was impossible and deliverer there was none, In this respect the condition of the inhabitants of Jerusalem may represent that of sinful, helpless men.
I A CRUEL BONDAGE. Sinners have yielded themselves up to obey the enemy of their souls, the foe of God. This is
(1) a usurper, who has no right to rule over men;
(2) a tyrant, who with unjust and unreasonable exercise of authority oppresses those beneath his power;
(3) a cruel master, whose service is slavery, whose stripes are many, whose wages are death and destruction.
II A SEEMINGLY INEVITABLE FATE. The conquered Judaeans had looked hither and thither, in the crisis of their fate, for some friend and helper, but they had looked in vain. Similarly the captive of sin can find no earthly deliverer; his fellow men are his fellow sinners and fellow captives; there is no eye to pity and no hand to save.
III A SOLITARY BUT SUFFICIENT CONSOLATION AND REFUGE. The restless waves answer their purpose when they toss the imperilled mariner towards the haven of refuge. Affliction and adversity, chains and dungeons, oppressors and torturers, may make the one only Deliverer welcome. The Lord God has revealed himself to us as the Saviour of all men. There is no prison from which he cannot set the captive free; there are no gyres and fetters he cannot strike off; there are no foes from whose hands he cannot rescue and deliver. T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Slaves rule over us
Slaves rule over us
Possible meanings are 1) "Now the people who rule over us are themselves slaves to their own masters in Babylon" or 2) "People who used to be slaves in Babylon now rule over us." (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
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to deliver us from their hand
Here the word "hand" refers to control. AT: "to rescue us from their control" (See: Metonymy)
bread
Here "bread" refers to food in general. AT: "food" (See: Metonymy)
because of the sword in the wilderness
Here robbers with swords are represented by their "swords." AT: "because there are robbers in the wilderness who kill others with swords" (See: Metonymy)
Our skin has grown as hot as an oven because of the burning heat of hunger
This speaks of the peoples' bodies being hot and feverish as if their skin was as hot as an oven. The people have fever because of their hunger. AT: "Our skin has become hot like an oven, and we have a very high fever because we are extremely hungry" (See: Simile)
translationWords
servant
rule
deliver
hand
life
bread
sword
desert
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.