The Meaning of Lamentations 1:7 Explained

Lamentations 1:7

KJV: Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old, when her people fell into the hand of the enemy, and none did help her: the adversaries saw her, and did mock at her sabbaths.

YLT: Remembered hath Jerusalem In the days of her affliction and her mournings, all her desirable things that were from the days of old, In the falling of her people into the hand of an adversary, And she hath no helper; Seen her have adversaries, They have laughed at her cessation.

Darby: In the days of her affliction and of her wanderings, since her people fell into the hand of an adversary, and none did help her, Jerusalem remembereth all her precious things which she had in the days of old: the adversaries have seen her, they mock at her ruin.

ASV: Jerusalem remembereth in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that were from the days of old: When her people fell into the hand of the adversary, and none did help her, The adversaries saw her, they did mock at her desolations.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Jerusalem  remembered  in the days  of her affliction  and of her miseries  all her pleasant things  that she had in the days  of old,  when her people  fell  into the hand  of the enemy,  and none did help  her: the adversaries  saw  her, [and] did mock  at her sabbaths. 

What does Lamentations 1:7 Mean?

Verse Meaning

Jerusalem looked back on better times, now that she was in exile. She remembered how no other nations came to help her-but mocked her-when the Babylonians besieged her (e.g, Ammon, Moab, and Edom).
"The heathen used to mock at the Jews" Sabbath, as showing their idleness, and term them Sabbatarians ..." [1]
"To this day in Bible lands laughter does not occupy the place it does in the West.... In the vast majority of cases, laughter is linked with scorn [2]." [3]
Mental anguish accompanied physical hardship.

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 1:7 mean?

Remembers Jerusalem in the days of her affliction and roaming all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old when fell her people into the hand of the enemy and with no one to help her saw her the adversaries [And] mocked at her downfall -
זָֽכְרָ֣ה יְרוּשָׁלִַ֗ם יְמֵ֤י עָנְיָהּ֙ וּמְרוּדֶ֔יהָ כֹּ֚ל מַחֲמֻדֶ֔יהָ אֲשֶׁ֥ר הָי֖וּ מִ֣ימֵי קֶ֑דֶם בִּנְפֹ֧ל עַמָּ֣הּ בְּיַד־ צָ֗ר וְאֵ֤ין עוֹזֵר֙ לָ֔הּ רָא֣וּהָ צָרִ֔ים שָׂחֲק֖וּ עַ֥ל מִשְׁבַּתֶּֽהָ ס

זָֽכְרָ֣ה  Remembers 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, third person feminine singular
Root: זָכַר 
Sense: to remember, recall, call to mind.
יְרוּשָׁלִַ֗ם  Jerusalem 
Parse: Proper Noun, feminine singular
Root: יְרוּשָׁלַםִ  
Sense: the chief city of Palestine and capital of the united kingdom and the nation of Judah after the split.
יְמֵ֤י  in  the  days 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural construct
Root: יׄום 
Sense: day, time, year.
עָנְיָהּ֙  of  her  affliction 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct, third person feminine singular
Root: עֳנִי  
Sense: affliction, poverty, misery.
וּמְרוּדֶ֔יהָ  and  roaming 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Noun, masculine plural construct, third person feminine singular
Root: מָרוּד  
Sense: restlessness, straying, wanderer, refugee.
מַחֲמֻדֶ֔יהָ  her  pleasant  things 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural construct, third person feminine singular
Root: מַחְמֹד  
Sense: desirable, precious thing.
אֲשֶׁ֥ר  that 
Parse: Pronoun, relative
Root: אֲשֶׁר 
Sense: (relative part.).
הָי֖וּ  she  had 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, third person common plural
Root: אֶהְיֶה 
Sense: to be, become, come to pass, exist, happen, fall out.
מִ֣ימֵי  in  the  days 
Parse: Preposition-m, Noun, masculine plural construct
Root: יׄום 
Sense: day, time, year.
קֶ֑דֶם  of  old 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: קֶדֶם 
Sense: east, antiquity, front, that which is before, aforetime.
בִּנְפֹ֧ל  when  fell 
Parse: Preposition-b, Verb, Qal, Infinitive construct
Root: נָפַל  
Sense: to fall, lie, be cast down, fail.
עַמָּ֣הּ  her  people 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct, third person feminine singular
Root: עַם 
Sense: nation, people.
בְּיַד־  into  the  hand 
Parse: Preposition-b, Noun, feminine singular construct
Root: יָד  
Sense: hand.
צָ֗ר  of  the  enemy 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: צַר 
Sense: narrow, tight.
וְאֵ֤ין  and  with  no  one 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Adverb
Root: אַיִן 
Sense: nothing, not, nought n.
עוֹזֵר֙  to  help 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Participle, masculine singular
Root: עָזַר  
Sense: to help, succour, support.
לָ֔הּ  her 
Parse: Preposition, third person feminine singular
רָא֣וּהָ  saw  her 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, third person common plural, third person feminine singular
Root: רָאָה 
Sense: to see, look at, inspect, perceive, consider.
צָרִ֔ים  the  adversaries 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural
Root: צַר 
Sense: narrow, tight.
שָׂחֲק֖וּ  [And]  mocked 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, third person common plural
Root: שָׂחַק  
Sense: to laugh, play, mock.
עַ֥ל  at 
Parse: Preposition
Root: עַל 
Sense: upon, on the ground of, according to, on account of, on behalf of, concerning, beside, in addition to, together with, beyond, above, over, by, on to, towards, to, against.
מִשְׁבַּתֶּֽהָ  her  downfall 
Parse: Noun, feminine plural construct, second person masculine singular
Root: מִשְׁבָּת  
Sense: cessation, annihilation.
ס  - 
Parse: Punctuation