Verse Lens · Concise explanation
Lamentations 5:1 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 1. 1Remember, O LORD, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse opens the non-acrostic prayer by asking the LORD to remember, consider, and behold communal reproach.
Read It With
- Lamentations 5:1-6
Read Lamentations 5:1 with 5:1-6. This verse opens the non-acrostic prayer by asking the LORD to remember, consider, and behold communal reproach. The complete unit establishes this movement: The community asks God to remember its disgrace and describes dispossession, family vulnerability, commodified necessities, forced labor without rest, and desperate dependence on old regional powers for enough bread.
Why This Verse Appears Here
After the fourth poem announces a limit, the fifth immediately proves that loss and dependence remain unresolved and must still be brought before God. Within that movement, this verse opens the non-acrostic prayer by asking the LORD to remember, consider, and behold communal reproach.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“Remember”
In plain language: This verse opens the non-acrostic prayer by asking the LORD to remember, consider, and behold communal reproach.
Prayer can begin by demanding divine attention to material disgrace.
Why it matters: The wording marks this verse's distinct contribution to the poem.
How certain? strongWhat Remains True
Prayer can begin by demanding divine attention to material disgrace.
How It Can Shape Life
- Name concrete harms in prayer and public witness.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Lamentations 5:1-6 — Communal Prayer over Dispossession and Desperate DependenceSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed Scripture, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and canonical verse coverage.
Exact location: Lamentations 5:1-6, repository-pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Lamentations
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, alphabet sequence, person and number, repeated vocabulary, and translation questions.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Lam.xml, OSIS Lam.5.1-Lam.5.6
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Lamentations with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level Hebrew, syntax, textual, acrostic, literary, historical, and translation notes.
Exact location: NET Bible Lamentations PDF, printed pp. 1575-1577, translation and notes on 5:1-6
Open source ↗