Bible Strands
Lamentations 5:15
Joy has left our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The collective people of Judah address God in the immediate aftermath of Jerusalem's fall, following the departure of elders and the silencing of youth. They report the sudden end of communal celebration.
The words — The term מְשׂוֹשׂ (me.Sos) marks the departure of collective joy, while נֶהְפּךְ (neh.Pakh) describes its forced reversal into אֵבֶל ('E.vel), mourning.
The thread — This pattern of joy becoming mourning appears in Amos 8:10 and Jeremiah 25:10 as a judgment motif, while Psalms 30:11 presents the opposite movement.
Why it lands — The text states that joy and dancing have ceased and been replaced by mourning. Interpreters infer this reversal signals divine judgment for national sin.
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
King James Version
The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning.
Cross-references
- Amos 8:10 I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation. I will cause everyone to wear sackcloth and every head to be shaved. I will make it like a time of mourning for an only son, and its outcome like a bitter day.
- Jeremiah 25:10 Moreover, I will banish from them the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of the bride and bridegroom, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp.
- Psalms 30:11 You turned my mourning into dancing; You peeled off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
- Amos 6:4 You lie on beds inlaid with ivory, and lounge upon your couches. You dine on lambs from the flock and calves from the stall.
- James 4:9 Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter to mourning, and your joy to gloom.