Lamentations 5:2
Lamentations 5:2 in Multiple Translations
Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our houses to foreigners.
Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens.
Our inheritance is turned unto strangers, Our houses unto aliens.
Our heritage is given up to men of strange lands, our houses to those who are not our countrymen.
The land we used to own has been handed over to strangers, our houses have been given to foreigners.
Our inheritance is turned to the strangers, our houses to the aliants.
Our inheritance hath been turned to strangers, Our houses to foreigners.
Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our houses to aliens.
Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens.
Our inheritance is turned to aliens: our houses to strangers.
Foreigners have seized our property, and now they live in our homes.
Berean Amplified Bible — Lamentations 5:2
BAB
Word Study
Hover over any word to see its amplified meaning. Click a word to explore its full definition and translation comparisons.
Amplified text is generated using scripting to tie together English translations for comparison. Always refer to the core BSB translation and original Hebrew/Greek text for accuracy. Anomalies may occur.
Lamentations 5:2 Interlinear (Deep Study)
BIB
HEB
נַחֲלָתֵ֨/נוּ֙
נֶֽהֶפְכָ֣ה
לְ/זָרִ֔ים
בָּתֵּ֖י/נוּ
לְ/נָכְרִֽים
נַחֲלָתֵ֨/נוּ֙
nachălâh
H5159
inheritance
N-fs | Suff
נֶֽהֶפְכָ֣ה
hâphak
H2015
to overturn
V-Niphal-Perf-3fs
לְ/זָרִ֔ים
zûwr
H2114
be a stranger
Prep | Adj
בָּתֵּ֖י/נוּ
bayith
H1004
place
N-mp | Suff
לְ/נָכְרִֽים
nokrîy
H5237
foreign
Prep | Adj
Hebrew Word Study
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Hebrew Word Reference — Lamentations 5:2
נַחֲלָתֵ֨/נוּ֙
nachălâh
H5159
"inheritance"
N-fs | Suff
Inheritance refers to something passed down, like property or a family heirloom, as seen in the Bible's discussion of dividing land among tribes in Joshua. It represents a person's share or possession. The concept is crucial in understanding biblical ideas of family and legacy.
Definition: 1) possession, property, inheritance, heritage 1a) property 1b) portion, share 1c) inheritance, portion
Usage: Occurs in 191 OT verses. KJV: heritage, to inherit, inheritance, possession. Compare H5158 (נַחַל). See also: Genesis 31:14; Joshua 23:4; Psalms 2:8.
נֶֽהֶפְכָ֣ה
hâphak
H2015
"to overturn"
V-Niphal-Perf-3fs
To overturn means to turn something around or change it completely, often implying a reversal or transformation. This can be seen in the Bible when something is turned upside down or changed radically.
Definition: 1) to turn, overthrow, overturn 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to overturn, overthrow 1a2) to turn, turn about, turn over, turn around 1a3) to change, transform 1b) (Niphal) 1b1) to turn oneself, turn, turn back 1b2) to change oneself 1b3) to be perverse 1b4) to be turned, be turned over, be changed, be turned against 1b5) to be reversed 1b6) to be overturned, be overthrown 1b7) to be upturned 1c) (Hithpael) 1c1) to transform oneself 1c2) to turn this way and that, turn every way 1d) (Hophal) to turn on someone
Usage: Occurs in 92 OT verses. KJV: [idiom] become, change, come, be converted, give, make (a bed), overthrow (-turn), perverse, retire, tumble, turn (again, aside, back, to the contrary, every way). See also: Genesis 3:24; Job 30:15; Psalms 30:12.
לְ/זָרִ֔ים
zûwr
H2114
"be a stranger"
Prep | Adj
This word has several meanings, including being a stranger or foreigner, like when Abraham lived in Egypt as a foreigner. It can also mean to commit adultery, highlighting the idea of turning aside from what is right and proper, as warned against in Proverbs 5.
Definition: 1) to be strange, be a stranger 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to become estranged 1a2) strange, another, stranger, foreigner, an enemy (participle) 1a3) strange woman, prostitute, harlot (meton) 1b) (Niphal) to be estranged 1c) (Hophal) to be a stranger, be one alienated
Usage: Occurs in 76 OT verses. KJV: (come from) another (man, place), fanner, go away, (e-) strange(-r, thing, woman). See also: Exodus 29:33; Proverbs 11:15; Psalms 44:21.
בָּתֵּ֖י/נוּ
bayith
H1004
"place"
N-mp | Suff
The Hebrew word for house refers to a dwelling place, including a family home, temple, or even the human body. It appears in various contexts, such as the temple in Jerusalem or the household of a family. In the Bible, it is often used to describe a place of worship or a family's living space.
Definition: nm place, origin, between
Usage: Occurs in 1712 OT verses. KJV: court, daughter, door, [phrase] dungeon, family, [phrase] forth of, [idiom] great as would contain, hangings, home(born), (winter) house(-hold), inside(-ward), palace, place, [phrase] prison, [phrase] steward, [phrase] tablet, temple, web, [phrase] within(-out). See also: Genesis 6:14; Exodus 8:5; Numbers 1:45.
לְ/נָכְרִֽים
nokrîy
H5237
"foreign"
Prep | Adj
This Hebrew word describes something or someone foreign or unfamiliar, including people, women, or things. It can also mean wonderful or outlandish. In the Bible, it is often translated as alien or foreigner.
Definition: 1) foreign, alien 1a) foreign 1b) foreigner (subst) 1c) foreign woman, harlot 1d) unknown, unfamiliar (fig.)
Usage: Occurs in 45 OT verses. KJV: alien, foreigner, outlandish, strange(-r, woman). See also: Genesis 31:15; Ezra 10:17; Psalms 69:9.
Study Notes — Lamentations 5:2
Show Verse Quote Highlights
- Context
- Cross References
- Lamentations 5:2 Summary
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Reflection Questions
- Gill's Exposition on Lamentations 5:2
- Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Lamentations 5:2
- Matthew Poole's Commentary on Lamentations 5:2
- Trapp's Commentary on Lamentations 5:2
- Ellicott's Commentary on Lamentations 5:2
- Adam Clarke's Commentary on Lamentations 5:2
- Cambridge Bible on Lamentations 5:2
- Barnes' Notes on Lamentations 5:2
- Whedon's Commentary on Lamentations 5:2
- Sermons on Lamentations 5:2
Context — A Prayer for Restoration
1Remember, O LORD, what has happened to us. Look and see our disgrace!
2Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our houses to foreigners.
3We have become fatherless orphans; our mothers are widows. 4We must buy the water we drink; our wood comes at a price.Cross References
| Reference | Text (BSB) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Isaiah 1:7 | Your land is desolate; your cities are burned with fire. Foreigners devour your fields before you— a desolation demolished by strangers. |
| 2 | Zephaniah 1:13 | Their wealth will be plundered and their houses laid waste. They will build houses but not inhabit them, and plant vineyards but never drink their wine. |
| 3 | Psalms 79:1–2 | The nations, O God, have invaded Your inheritance; they have defiled Your holy temple and reduced Jerusalem to rubble. They have given the corpses of Your servants as food to the birds of the air, the flesh of Your saints to the beasts of the earth. |
| 4 | Deuteronomy 28:30–68 | You will be pledged in marriage to a woman, but another man will violate her. You will build a house but will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard but will not enjoy its fruit. Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will not eat any of it. Your donkey will be taken away and not returned to you. Your flock will be given to your enemies, and no one will save you. Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation, while your eyes grow weary looking for them day after day, with no power in your hand. A people you do not know will eat the produce of your land and of all your toil. All your days you will be oppressed and crushed. You will be driven mad by the sights you see. The LORD will afflict you with painful, incurable boils on your knees and thighs, from the soles of your feet to the top of your head. The LORD will bring you and the king you appoint to a nation neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you will worship other gods—gods of wood and stone. You will become an object of horror, scorn, and ridicule among all the nations to which the LORD will drive you. You will sow much seed in the field but harvest little, because the locusts will consume it. You will plant and cultivate vineyards, but will neither drink the wine nor gather the grapes, because worms will eat them. You will have olive trees throughout your territory but will never anoint yourself with oil, because the olives will drop off. You will father sons and daughters, but they will not remain yours, because they will go into captivity. Swarms of locusts will consume all your trees and the produce of your land. The foreigner living among you will rise higher and higher above you, while you sink down lower and lower. He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him. He will be the head, and you will be the tail. All these curses will come upon you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, since you did not obey the LORD your God and keep the commandments and statutes He gave you. These curses will be a sign and a wonder upon you and your descendants forever. Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and gladness of heart in all your abundance, you will serve your enemies the LORD will send against you in famine, thirst, nakedness, and destitution. He will place an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you. The LORD will bring a nation from afar, from the ends of the earth, to swoop down upon you like an eagle—a nation whose language you will not understand, a ruthless nation with no respect for the old and no pity for the young. They will eat the offspring of your livestock and the produce of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain or new wine or oil, no calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks, until they have caused you to perish. They will besiege all the cities throughout your land, until the high and fortified walls in which you trust have fallen. They will besiege all your cities throughout the land that the LORD your God has given you. Then you will eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters whom the LORD your God has given you, in the siege and distress that your enemy will inflict on you. The most gentle and refined man among you will begrudge his brother, the wife he embraces, and the rest of his children who have survived, refusing to share with any of them the flesh of his children he will eat because he has nothing left in the siege and distress that your enemy will inflict on you within all your gates. The most gentle and refined woman among you, so gentle and refined she would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground, will begrudge the husband she embraces and her son and daughter the afterbirth that comes from between her legs and the children she bears, because she will secretly eat them for lack of anything else in the siege and distress that your enemy will inflict on you within your gates. If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law which are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name—the LORD your God— He will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary disasters, severe and lasting plagues, and terrible and chronic sicknesses. He will afflict you again with all the diseases you dreaded in Egypt, and they will cling to you. The LORD will also bring upon you every sickness and plague not recorded in this Book of the Law, until you are destroyed. You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky will be left few in number, because you would not obey the voice of the LORD your God. Just as it pleased the LORD to make you prosper and multiply, so also it will please Him to annihilate you and destroy you. And you will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess. Then the LORD will scatter you among all the nations, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known. Among those nations you will find no repose, not even a resting place for the sole of your foot. There the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and a despairing soul. So your life will hang in doubt before you, and you will be afraid night and day, never certain of survival. In the morning you will say, ‘If only it were evening!’ and in the evening you will say, ‘If only it were morning!’—because of the dread in your hearts of the terrifying sights you will see. The LORD will return you to Egypt in ships by a route that I said you should never see again. There you will sell yourselves to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.” |
| 5 | Isaiah 5:17 | Lambs will graze as in their own pastures, and strangers will feed in the ruins of the wealthy. |
| 6 | Jeremiah 6:12 | Their houses will be turned over to others, their fields and wives as well, for I will stretch out My hand against the inhabitants of the land,” declares the LORD. |
| 7 | Isaiah 63:18 | For a short while Your people possessed Your holy place, but our enemies have trampled Your sanctuary. |
| 8 | Ezekiel 7:21 | And I will hand these things over as plunder to foreigners and loot to the wicked of the earth, who will defile them. |
| 9 | Ezekiel 7:24 | So I will bring the most wicked of nations to take possession of their houses. I will end the pride of the mighty, and their holy places will be profaned. |
Lamentations 5:2 Summary
This verse is saying that the Israelites' homes and land, which were given to them by God, have been taken over by people who don't know or worship God. This is a picture of what happens when we turn away from God and His ways, as seen in Deuteronomy 28. It reminds us to trust in God's goodness and wisdom, even when things seem to be going wrong, and to prioritize our spiritual inheritance, which is eternal and can never be taken away, as noted in 1 Peter 1:4.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does it mean for our inheritance to be turned over to strangers?
This phrase suggests that the Israelites' God-given heritage and possessions have been taken over by those who do not belong to God's family, much like in the book of Deuteronomy 28:33 where it warns of such consequences for disobedience.
How does this verse relate to the idea of God's sovereignty?
Even in the midst of foreign invasion and loss, God remains sovereign, as seen in Isaiah 46:10, and this verse may be a call to trust in His goodness and wisdom despite difficult circumstances.
Is this verse only talking about physical inheritance or is there a spiritual aspect?
While the physical aspect of inheritance is clear, the spiritual implications are also significant, as our true inheritance as believers is in heaven, as stated in 1 Peter 1:4, and this verse may be highlighting the contrast between earthly and heavenly possessions.
How can we apply this verse to our modern lives?
This verse can serve as a reminder to prioritize our spiritual inheritance and to trust in God's provision, even when earthly possessions are lost, as encouraged in Matthew 6:19-20 and Hebrews 10:34.
Reflection Questions
- What are some ways in which I have seen my own 'inheritance' being threatened or taken over by forces outside of God's control?
- How can I cultivate a sense of trust in God's sovereignty, even when my circumstances seem to be spinning out of control?
- In what ways can I prioritize my spiritual inheritance and focus on storing up treasures in heaven, rather than on earth?
- What does it mean for me to 'look to the Lord' in times of trouble, as the surrounding verses suggest, and how can I put this into practice in my own life?
Gill's Exposition on Lamentations 5:2
Our inheritance is turned to strangers,.... The land of Canaan in general, which was given to Abraham and his seed to be their inheritance; and their field, and vineyards in particular, which came to
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Lamentations 5:2
Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens. Our inheritance - which is at the same time "thine inheritance" . The land given of old to us by thy gift.
Matthew Poole's Commentary on Lamentations 5:2
What our fathers inherited as given them by thee, and we as left to us by them, is come into the hands of the Chaldeans.
Trapp's Commentary on Lamentations 5:2
Lamentations 5:2 Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens.Ver. 2. Our inheritance is turned to strangers.] So the Jews called all other nations, as the Greeks, barbarians. From hence to Lamentations 5:19 there are so many verses, so many different complaints. While we are in this "vale of misery and valley of tears," we are sure of many ailments, and still to have somewhat to cry for.
Ellicott's Commentary on Lamentations 5:2
(2) Turned.—Used here as in the sense of transferred. Houses.—In Jer. Iii. 13, the Chaldæans are said to have burnt the houses of Jerusalem, and those of the great men elsewhere; here, therefore, the “houses” spoken of are those of the farmers and peasants in the country.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on Lamentations 5:2
Verse 2. Our inheritance is turned to strangers] The greater part of the Jews were either slain or carried away captive; and even those who were left under Gedaliah were not free, for they were vassals to the Chaldeans.
Cambridge Bible on Lamentations 5:2
2. Our inheritance] our land, forfeited to the conquerors.
Barnes' Notes on Lamentations 5:2
Turned - “transferred.” The inheritance was the land of Canaan Leviticus 20:24. Aliens - Or, “foreigners:” i. e. the Chaldaeans upon their conquest of the country.
Whedon's Commentary on Lamentations 5:2
2. Our inheritance… to strangers — This has a woful meaning to the Jew. The land was to him the special gift of God, and his occupation of it a visible proof of the faithful covenant of Jehovah.
Sermons on Lamentations 5:2
| Sermon | Description | |
|---|---|---|
|
Contrasting Picture of Life and Death by Ian Paisley | In this sermon, the preacher discusses the challenges and struggles of life, comparing them to footmen in a race. He emphasizes that everyone will face disappointments, sickness, s |
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A Psalm of Asaph by Chuck Smith | In this sermon, Pastor Chuck Smith discusses the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonian army. He describes the defilement of the holy temple and the suffering of the people. Th |
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The Burden of the Hour by Phil Beach Jr. | Phil Beach Jr. emphasizes the urgency of recognizing the spiritual state of God's people as reflected in Psalms 79 and 80. He highlights the importance of humility and the cry for |
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Israel's Chastisement by Art Katz | In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes that the actions of God in the present times are a demonstration of His power and nature, both in judgment and mercy. The sermon highlights |
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Sanctification by Thomas Watson | Thomas Watson preaches about the importance, nature, counterfeits, necessity, signs, pursuit, inducements, and attainment of sanctification. He emphasizes that sanctification is th |
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Machpelah, and Its First Tenant by F.B. Meyer | F.B. Meyer reflects on the profound grief of Abraham following the death of Sarah, emphasizing the deep bond they shared over their long life together. He highlights Abraham's tear |