Lamentations 1:18

The LORD is righteous, yet I rebelled against His command. Listen, all you people; look upon my suffering. My young men and maidens have gone into captivity.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The speaker, identified as Jerusalem or Zion in the preceding chapter, addresses a general audience while describing the immediate aftermath of the city's destruction. The moment captures the peak of the siege's devastation, with the city's leaders and youth already taken captive.

The words — The text highlights צַדִּ֥יק (tza.Dik), meaning "[is] righteous," and מָרִ֑יתִי (ma.Ri.ti), meaning "I have been rebellious," to frame the speaker's confession against God's character. These terms establish the direct contrast between divine justice and human disobedience that triggers the lament.

The thread — This tension between God's righteousness and human rebellion appears in Psalms 119:75, where the psalmist acknowledges God's faithful affliction, and Zephaniah 3:5, which confirms God's unchanging justice. The theme of covenant rebellion and its consequences also surfaces in 1 Samuel 12:14.

Why it lands — The verse demands recognition that suffering follows direct disobedience rather than divine failure. It calls the reader to acknowledge personal culpability while observing the concrete reality of lost community and broken relationships.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

צַדִּ֥יקtza.Dik[is] righteous ה֛וּאhu'he יְהוָ֖הYah.wehYahweh כִּ֣יkifor פִ֣יהוּFi./humouth/ his מָרִ֑יתִיma.Ri.tiI have been rebellious שִׁמְעוּ־shim.'u-listen נָ֣אna'please כָל־khol-O all הָֽעַמִּ֗יםha./'a.mimthe/ peoples וּרְאוּ֙u./re.'Uand/ see מַכְאֹבִ֔יmakh.'o.V/ipain/ my בְּתוּלֹתַ֥יbe.tu.lo.Ta/iyoung women/ my וּבַחוּרַ֖יu./va.chu.Ra/iand/ young men/ my הָלְכ֥וּha.le.Khuthey have gone בַשֶּֽׁבִי׃ סva./She.viin <the>/ captivity

King James Version

The Lord is righteous; for I have rebelled against his commandment: hear, I pray you, all people, and behold my sorrow: my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity.

Cross-references

Psalms 119:75 I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are righteous, and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me.
1 Samuel 12:14 If you fear the LORD and serve Him and obey His voice, and if you do not rebel against the command of the LORD, and if both you and the king who rules over you follow the LORD your God, then all will be well.
Zephaniah 3:5 The LORD within her is righteous; He does no wrong. He applies His justice morning by morning; He does not fail at dawn, yet the unjust know no shame.
Jeremiah 12:1 Righteous are You, O LORD, when I plead before You. Yet about Your judgments I wish to contend with You: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?
Lamentations 1:12 Is this nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look around and see! Is there any sorrow like mine, which was inflicted on me, which the LORD made me suffer on the day of His fierce anger?
Nehemiah 9:33 You are just in all that has befallen us, because You have acted faithfully, while we have acted wickedly.
Psalms 107:11 because they rebelled against the words of God and despised the counsel of the Most High.
Lamentations 3:42 “We have sinned and rebelled; You have not forgiven.”
Exodus 9:27 Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. “This time I have sinned,” he said. “The LORD is righteous, and I and my people are wicked.
Deuteronomy 28:32 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.