The Meaning of Lamentations 1:18 Explained

Lamentations 1:18

KJV: 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.

YLT: Righteous is Jehovah, For His mouth I have provoked. Hear, I pray you, all ye peoples, and see my pain, My virgins and my young men have gone into captivity.

Darby: Jehovah is righteous; for I have rebelled against his commandment. Hear, I pray you, all ye peoples, and behold my sorrow. My virgins and my young men are gone into captivity.

ASV: Jehovah is righteous; for I have rebelled against his commandment: Hear, I pray you, all ye peoples, and behold my sorrow: My virgins and my young men are gone into captivity.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

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. 

What does Lamentations 1:18 Mean?

Verse Meaning

The prophet confessed for the city her rebellion against the Lord"s commands.
"The only reason men were in the place where they were in the days of Jeremiah , or are in our own post-Christian world, is that they have turned away from the propositional revelation of God and as such they are under the moral judgment of God." [1]
God"s punishment of Jerusalem had been just. She mourned the loss of her young citizens who were now in exile.

Chapter Summary: Lamentations 1

1  The miseries of Jerusalem and of the Jews lamented
12  The attention of beholders demanded to this unprecedented case
18  The justice of God acknowledged, and his mercy supplicated

What do the individual words in Lamentations 1:18 mean?

Righteous is Yahweh for against His commandment I rebelled Hear now all - peoples and behold my sorrow My virgins and my young men have gone into captivity -
צַדִּ֥יק ה֛וּא יְהוָ֖ה כִּ֣י פִ֣יהוּ מָרִ֑יתִי שִׁמְעוּ־ נָ֣א כָל־ [עמים] (הָֽעַמִּ֗ים) וּרְאוּ֙ מַכְאֹבִ֔י בְּתוּלֹתַ֥י וּבַחוּרַ֖י הָלְכ֥וּ בַשֶּֽׁבִי ס

צַדִּ֥יק  Righteous 
Parse: Adjective, masculine singular
Root: צַדִּיק  
Sense: just, lawful, righteous.
יְהוָ֖ה  Yahweh 
Parse: Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: יהוה 
Sense: Jehovah—used primarily in the combination ‘Lord Jehovah’.
פִ֣יהוּ  against  His  commandment 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct, third person masculine singular
Root: פֶּה  
Sense: mouth.
מָרִ֑יתִי  I  rebelled 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, first person common singular
Root: מָרָה  
Sense: to be contentious, be rebellious, be refractory, be disobedient towards, be rebellious against.
שִׁמְעוּ־  Hear 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperative, masculine plural
Root: שָׁמַע 
Sense: to hear, listen to, obey.
נָ֣א  now 
Parse: Interjection
Root: נָא  
Sense: I (we) pray, now, please.
[עמים]  - 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural
(הָֽעַמִּ֗ים)  peoples 
Parse: Article, Noun, masculine plural
Root: עַם 
Sense: nation, people.
וּרְאוּ֙  and  behold 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Qal, Imperative, masculine plural
Root: רָאָה 
Sense: to see, look at, inspect, perceive, consider.
מַכְאֹבִ֔י  my  sorrow 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct, first person common singular
Root: מַכְאֹב  
Sense: pain, sorrow.
בְּתוּלֹתַ֥י  My  virgins 
Parse: Noun, feminine plural construct, first person common singular
Root: בְּתוּלָה  
Sense: virgin.
וּבַחוּרַ֖י  and  my  young  men 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Noun, masculine plural construct, first person common singular
Root: בָּחוּר 
Sense: youth, young man.
הָלְכ֥וּ  have  gone 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, third person common plural
Root: הָלַךְ  
Sense: to go, walk, come.
בַשֶּֽׁבִי  into  captivity 
Parse: Preposition-b, Article, Noun, masculine singular
Root: שְׁבִי 
Sense: captivity, captives.
ס  - 
Parse: Punctuation