13 Young men toil at the millstones; boys stagger under loads of wood.
13 They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood.
13 Young men are compelled to grind at the mill, and boys stagger under loads of wood.
13 Strapping young men were put to women's work, mere boys forced to do men's work.
13 Young men ground at the millstones; Boys staggered under loads of wood.
13 Young men are led away to work at millstones, and boys stagger under heavy loads of wood.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Lamentations 5:13
Commentary on Lamentations 5:1-16
(Read Lamentations 5:1-16)
Is any afflicted? Let him pray; and let him in prayer pour out his complaint to God. The people of God do so here; they complain not of evils feared, but of evils felt. If penitent and patient under what we suffer for the sins of our fathers, we may expect that He who punishes, will return in mercy to us. They acknowledge, Woe unto us that we have sinned! All our woes are owing to our own sin and folly. Though our sins and God's just displeasure cause our sufferings, we may hope in his pardoning mercy, his sanctifying grace, and his kind providence. But the sins of a man's whole life will be punished with vengeance at last, unless he obtains an interest in Him who bare our sins in his own body on the tree.