The Meaning of Lamentations 5:8 Explained

Lamentations 5:8

KJV: Servants have ruled over us: there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand.

YLT: Servants have ruled over us, A deliverer there is none from their hand.

Darby: Bondmen rule over us: there is no deliverer out of their hand.

ASV: Servants rule over us: There is none to deliver us out of their hand.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Servants  have ruled  over us: [there is] none that doth deliver  [us] out of their hand. 

What does Lamentations 5:8 Mean?

Verse Meaning

Even slaves among the oppressors were dominating God"s people, and there was no one to deliver them. Only the poorest of the Judahites remained in the land following the destruction of Jerusalem in586 B.C, but even the lowest classes of Chaldeans were dominating them.
"Israel, once a "kingdom of priests" ( Exodus 19:6), is become like Canaan, "a servant of servants," according to the curse ( Genesis 9:25). The Chaldeans were designed to be "servants" of Shem, being descended from Ham ( Genesis 9:26). Now through the Jews" sin, their positions are reversed." [1]

Chapter Summary: Lamentations 5

1  A complaint of Zion in prayer unto God

What do the individual words in Lamentations 5:8 mean?

Servants rule over us to deliver [us] [There is] none from their hand
עֲבָדִים֙ מָ֣שְׁלוּ בָ֔נוּ פֹּרֵ֖ק אֵ֥ין מִיָּדָֽם

עֲבָדִים֙  Servants 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural
Root: עֶבֶד  
Sense: slave, servant.
מָ֣שְׁלוּ  rule  over 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, third person common plural
Root: מָשַׁל  
Sense: to rule, have dominion, reign.
בָ֔נוּ  us 
Parse: Preposition, first person common plural
פֹּרֵ֖ק  to  deliver  [us] 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Participle, masculine singular
Root: פָּרַק  
Sense: to tear apart or away, tear off, break away.
אֵ֥ין  [There  is]  none 
Parse: Adverb
Root: אַיִן 
Sense: nothing, not, nought n.
מִיָּדָֽם  from  their  hand 
Parse: Preposition-m, Noun, feminine singular construct, third person masculine plural
Root: יָד  
Sense: hand.