Bible Strands
Lamentations 5:6
We submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough bread.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The collective voice of Judah’s survivors addresses God following Jerusalem’s fall, describing their desperate political capitulation after being relentlessly pursued and left without rest. This confession occurs at the climax of their national collapse, immediately before acknowledging the intergenerational weight of their inherited guilt.
The words — The phrase נָתַ֣נּוּ יָ֔ד (na.Ta.nu Yad) literally means "we have given a hand," a Hebrew idiom for surrender or submission. The text records this surrender as a pragmatic transaction offered to Egypt and Assyria to secure bread and achieve satiety.
The thread — This pattern of seeking foreign alliances for survival mirrors Hosea 9:3, where Israel is condemned for returning to Egypt and consuming unclean food in Assyria. The same futile pursuit of political covenants appears in Hosea 12:1, which notes Ephraim multiplying lies and violence while making treaties rather than relying on divine provision.
Why it lands — The text demands acknowledgment that survival strategies built on political compromise fail to deliver the sustenance they promise. It requires the reader to confront how pragmatic alliances replace covenant loyalty and to recognize the inescapable consequences of that substitution.
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
We have given the hand to the Egyptians, and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.
Cross-references
- Hosea 9:3 They will not remain in the land of the LORD; Ephraim will return to Egypt and eat unclean food in Assyria.
- Hosea 12:1 Ephraim feeds on the wind and pursues the east wind all day long; he multiplies lies and violence; he makes a covenant with Assyria and sends olive oil to Egypt.
- Genesis 24:2 So Abraham instructed the chief servant of his household, who managed all he owned, “Place your hand under my thigh,
- Jeremiah 2:18 Now what will you gain on your way to Egypt to drink the waters of the Nile? What will you gain on your way to Assyria to drink the waters of the Euphrates?
- Jeremiah 2:36 How impulsive you are, constantly changing your ways! You will be disappointed by Egypt just as you were by Assyria.
- Hosea 5:13 When Ephraim saw his sickness and Judah his wound, then Ephraim turned to Assyria and sent to the great king. But he cannot cure you or heal your wound.
- Hosea 7:11 So Ephraim has become like a silly, senseless dove—calling out to Egypt, then turning to Assyria.
- 2 Kings 10:15 When he left there, he found Jehonadab son of Rechab, who was coming to meet him. Jehu greeted him and asked, “Is your heart as true to mine as my heart is to yours?” “It is!” Jehonadab replied. “If it is,” said Jehu, “give me your hand.” So he gave him his hand, and Jehu helped him into his chariot,
- Isaiah 30:1 “Woe to the rebellious children,” declares the LORD, “to those who carry out a plan that is not Mine, who form an alliance, but against My will, heaping up sin upon sin.
- Isaiah 31:1 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in their abundance of chariots and in their multitude of horsemen. They do not look to the Holy One of Israel; they do not seek the LORD.