The Meaning of Lamentations 5:9 Explained

Lamentations 5:9

KJV: We gat our bread with the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness.

YLT: With our lives we bring in our bread, Because of the sword of the wilderness.

Darby: We have to get our bread at the risk of our lives, because of the sword of the wilderness.

ASV: We get our bread at the peril of our lives, Because of the sword of the wilderness.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

We gat  our bread  with [the peril of] our lives  because  of the sword  of the wilderness. 

What does Lamentations 5:9 Mean?

Chapter Summary: Lamentations 5

1  A complaint of Zion in prayer unto God

What do the individual words in Lamentations 5:9 mean?

[at [the risk] of our lives we get our bread because of the sword in the wilderness
בְּנַפְשֵׁ֙נוּ֙ נָבִ֣יא לַחְמֵ֔נוּ מִפְּנֵ֖י חֶ֥רֶב הַמִּדְבָּֽר

בְּנַפְשֵׁ֙נוּ֙  [at  [the  risk]  of  our  lives 
Parse: Preposition-b, Noun, feminine singular construct, first person common plural
Root: נֶפֶשׁ  
Sense: soul, self, life, creature, person, appetite, mind, living being, desire, emotion, passion.
נָבִ֣יא  we  get 
Parse: Verb, Hifil, Imperfect, first person common plural
Root: בֹּוא 
Sense: to go in, enter, come, go, come in.
לַחְמֵ֔נוּ  our  bread 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct, first person common plural
Root: לֶחֶם  
Sense: bread, food, grain.
מִפְּנֵ֖י  because 
Parse: Preposition-m, Noun, common plural construct
Root: לִפְנֵי 
Sense: face.
חֶ֥רֶב  of  the  sword 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular construct
Root: חֶרֶב  
Sense: sword, knife.
הַמִּדְבָּֽר  in  the  wilderness 
Parse: Article, Noun, masculine singular
Root: מִדְבָּר 
Sense: wilderness.