Lamentations 1:18
New International Version
“The LORD is righteous, yet I rebelled against his command. Listen, all you peoples; look on my suffering. My young men and young women have gone into exile.

New Living Translation
“The LORD is right,” Jerusalem says, “for I rebelled against him. Listen, people everywhere; look upon my anguish and despair, for my sons and daughters have been taken captive to distant lands.

English Standard Version
“The LORD is in the right, for I have rebelled against his word; but hear, all you peoples, and see my suffering; my young women and my young men have gone into captivity.

Berean Standard Bible
The LORD is righteous, for I have rebelled against His command. Listen, all you people; look upon my suffering. My young men and maidens have gone into captivity.

King James Bible
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.

New King James Version
“The LORD is righteous, For I rebelled against His commandment. Hear now, all peoples, And behold my sorrow; My virgins and my young men Have gone into captivity.

New American Standard Bible
“The LORD is righteous, For I have rebelled against His command; Hear now, all peoples, And see my pain; My virgins and my young men Have gone into captivity.

NASB 1995
“The LORD is righteous; For I have rebelled against His command; Hear now, all peoples, And behold my pain; My virgins and my young men Have gone into captivity.

NASB 1977
“The LORD is righteous; For I have rebelled against His command; Hear now, all peoples, And behold my pain; My virgins and my young men Have gone into captivity.

Legacy Standard Bible
“Yahweh is righteous; For I have rebelled against His command; Hear now, all peoples, And behold my pain; My virgins and my young men Have gone into captivity.

Amplified Bible
“The LORD is righteous and just; For I have rebelled against His commandment (His word). Hear now, all you peoples, And look at my pain; My virgins and my young men Have gone into captivity.

Christian Standard Bible
The LORD is just, for I have rebelled against his command. Listen, all you people; look at my pain. My young women and young men have gone into captivity.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
The LORD is just, for I have rebelled against His command. Listen, all you people; look at my pain. My young men and women have gone into captivity.

American Standard Version
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.

Contemporary English Version
The LORD was right, but I refused to obey him. Now I ask all of you to look at my sufferings--even my young people have been dragged away.

English Revised Version
The LORD 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.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
"The LORD is right in what he did, because I rebelled against his word. Please listen, all you people, and look at my pain. My young women and young men have gone into captivity.

Good News Translation
"But the LORD is just, for I have disobeyed him. Listen to me, people everywhere; look at me in my pain. My young men and women have been taken away captive.

International Standard Version
The LORD is in the right, but I rebelled against his commands. Listen, please, all you people, and look at my pain— my young men and women have gone into captivity.

Majority Standard Bible
The LORD is righteous, for I have rebelled against His command. Listen, all you people; look upon my suffering. My young men and maidens have gone into captivity.

NET Bible
The LORD is right to judge me! Yes, I rebelled against his commands. Please listen, all you nations, and look at my suffering! My young women and men have gone into exile.

New Heart English Bible
The LORD is righteous, for I have rebelled against his commandment. Please listen all you people, and see my suffering. My virgins and my young men have gone into captivity.

Webster's Bible Translation
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.

World English Bible
“Yahweh is righteous, for I have rebelled against his commandment. Please hear all you peoples, and see my sorrow. My virgins and my young men have gone into captivity.
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
YHWH is righteous, "" For I have provoked His mouth. Now hear, all you peoples, and see my pain, "" My virgins and my young men have gone into captivity.

Young's Literal Translation
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.

Smith's Literal Translation
Jehovah he is just: for I embittered his mouth: hear now, all ye peoples, and see my pain: my virgins and my chosen ones went into captivity.
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
Sade. The Lord is just, for I have provoked his mouth to wrath: hear, I pray you, all ye people, and see my sorrow: my virgins, and my young men are gone into captivity.

Catholic Public Domain Version
SADE. The Lord is just, for it is I who has provoked his mouth to wrath. I beg all people to listen and to see my sorrow. My virgins and my youths have gone into captivity.

New American Bible
“The LORD is in the right; I had defied his command. Listen, all you peoples, and see my pain: My young women and young men have gone into captivity.

New Revised Standard Version
The LORD is in the right, for I have rebelled against his word; but hear, all you peoples, and behold my suffering; my young women and young men have gone into captivity.
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
The LORD is righteous; and I have rebelled against him; hear, all you peoples, and behold my grief; my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
Tsadhe Righteous is LORD JEHOVAH against whom I have rebelled. Hear, all you nations, and see my sorrow! My virgins and my young men have gone into captivity!
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
The LORD is righteous; For I have rebelled against His word; Hear, I pray you, all ye peoples, And behold my pain: My virgins and my young men Are gone into captivity.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
TSADE. The Lord is righteous; for I have provoked his mouth: hear, I pray you, all people, and behold my grief: my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
How Lonely Lies the City
17Zion stretches out her hands, but there is no one to comfort her. The LORD has decreed against Jacob that his neighbors become his foes. Jerusalem has become an unclean thing among them. 18The LORD is righteous, for I have rebelled against His command. Listen, all you people; look upon my suffering. My young men and maidens have gone into captivity. 19I called out to my lovers, but they have betrayed me. My priests and elders perished in the city while they searched for food to keep themselves alive.…

Cross References
Deuteronomy 32:4
He is the Rock, His work is perfect; all His ways are just. A God of faithfulness without injustice, righteous and upright is He.

Nehemiah 9:33
You are just in all that has befallen us, because You have acted faithfully, while we have acted wickedly.

Daniel 9:14
Therefore the LORD has kept the calamity in store and brought it upon us. For the LORD our God is righteous in all He does; yet we have not obeyed His voice.

Psalm 51:4
Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You may be proved right when You speak and blameless when You judge.

Jeremiah 12:1
Righteous are You, O LORD, when I plead before You. Yet about Your judgments I wish to contend with You: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?

Isaiah 5:16
But the LORD of Hosts will be exalted by His justice, and the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness.

Psalm 119:137
Righteous are You, O LORD, and upright are Your judgments.

Ezekiel 18:25
Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear now, O house of Israel: Is it My way that is unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust?

Romans 3:4
Certainly not! Let God be true and every man a liar. As it is written: “So that You may be proved right when You speak and victorious when You judge.”

Romans 3:26
He did this to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and to justify the one who has faith in Jesus.

Revelation 15:3
and they sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb: “Great and wonderful are Your works, O Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of the nations!

Revelation 16:7
And I heard the altar reply: “Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are Your judgments.”

Hebrews 12:5-6
And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you. / For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises every son He receives.”

1 Peter 4:17
For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who disobey the gospel of God?

Luke 7:29
All the people who heard this, even the tax collectors, acknowledged God’s justice. For they had received the baptism of John.


Treasury of Scripture

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.

Lord

Exodus 9:27
And Pharaoh sent, and called for Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, I have sinned this time: the LORD is righteous, and I and my people are wicked.

Deuteronomy 32:4
He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

Judges 1:7
And Adonibezek said, Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table: as I have done, so God hath requited me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died.

for I

Lamentations 3:42
We have transgressed and have rebelled: thou hast not pardoned.

1 Samuel 12:14,15
If ye will fear the LORD, and serve him, and obey his voice, and not rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then shall both ye and also the king that reigneth over you continue following the LORD your God: …

1 Samuel 15:23
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.

commandment Heb.

1 Kings 13:21
And he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the LORD, and hast not kept the commandment which the LORD thy God commanded thee,

hear

Lamentations 1:12
Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the LORD hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.

Deuteronomy 29:22-28
So that the generation to come of your children that shall rise up after you, and the stranger that shall come from a far land, shall say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses which the LORD hath laid upon it; …

1 Kings 9:8,9
And at this house, which is high, every one that passeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss; and they shall say, Why hath the LORD done thus unto this land, and to this house? …

my virgins

Lamentations 1:5,6
Her adversaries are the chief, her enemies prosper; for the LORD hath afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions: her children are gone into captivity before the enemy…

Deuteronomy 28:32-41
Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day long: and there shall be no might in thine hand…

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Captivity Command Commandment Ear Exile Hear Mouth Orders Pain Peoples Please Prisoners Provoked Rebelled Right Righteous Sorrow Suffering Upright Virgins Word Young
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.














The LORD is righteous
The Hebrew word for "righteous" is "צַדִּיק" (tsaddiq), which conveys the idea of being just, lawful, and morally right. In the context of Lamentations, this declaration acknowledges God's inherent justice and holiness. Despite the suffering and devastation experienced by Jerusalem, the author, traditionally believed to be Jeremiah, affirms that God's actions are justified. This reflects a deep understanding of God's character as one who is fair and just, even when His judgments are severe. The righteousness of the LORD is a central theme throughout the Bible, emphasizing that His ways are perfect and His judgments are true.

for I have rebelled against His command
The Hebrew root for "rebelled" is "מָרָה" (marah), meaning to be contentious or disobedient. This confession of rebellion is a personal and communal acknowledgment of sin against God's commandments. Historically, Israel's rebellion involved idolatry, social injustice, and neglect of the covenant with God. This phrase highlights the cause of Jerusalem's suffering: a deliberate turning away from God's laws. It serves as a reminder of the consequences of sin and the importance of obedience to God's word.

Listen, all you people
The call to "listen" is an invitation to pay attention and understand the gravity of the situation. The Hebrew word "שָׁמַע" (shama) implies not just hearing but also obeying. This plea is directed to the surrounding nations and the people of Israel, urging them to recognize the consequences of disobedience to God. It serves as a warning and a lesson for all who witness the downfall of Jerusalem, emphasizing the need for repentance and adherence to God's commands.

look upon my suffering
The phrase "look upon" is a call for empathy and understanding. The Hebrew word "רָאָה" (ra'ah) means to see or perceive. The suffering mentioned here is both physical and spiritual, encompassing the destruction of the city, the loss of life, and the deep sense of abandonment felt by the people. This appeal for others to witness their plight underscores the severity of their condition and the hope that others might learn from their experience.

My young men and maidens have gone into captivity
The mention of "young men and maidens" highlights the loss of the future generation, a devastating consequence of the Babylonian exile. The Hebrew word for "captivity" is "שֶׁבִי" (shevi), indicating being taken as prisoners or exiles. This reflects the historical reality of the Babylonian conquest, where many Israelites were forcibly removed from their homeland. The loss of the young symbolizes the interruption of life and continuity, a poignant reminder of the cost of rebellion against God. This phrase serves as a lament for the lost potential and a call to return to faithfulness.

(18) The Lord is righteous . . .--An echo from Jeremiah 12:1; 2Chronicles 12:6. Misery does its work, and issues in repentance. The suffering comes from the all-righteous Judge. It is, perhaps, significant that with this beginning of conversion the name "Jehovah" reappears.

All people . . .--Better, all peoples. Those addressed are the heathen nations, who are summoned to gaze on the desolate mourners.

Verse 18. - People; render, peoples.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
The LORD
יְהוָ֖ה (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3069: YHWH

is righteous,
צַדִּ֥יק (ṣad·dîq)
Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 6662: Just, righteous

for
כִּ֣י (kî)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

I have rebelled
מָרִ֑יתִי (mā·rî·ṯî)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - first person common singular
Strong's 4784: To be contentious or rebellious

against His command.
פִ֣יהוּ (p̄î·hū)
Noun - masculine singular construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 6310: The mouth, edge, portion, side, according to

Listen,
שִׁמְעוּ־ (šim·‘ū-)
Verb - Qal - Imperative - masculine plural
Strong's 8085: To hear intelligently

all you people;
כָל־ (ḵāl)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 3605: The whole, all, any, every

look upon
וּרְאוּ֙ (ū·rə·’ū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Imperative - masculine plural
Strong's 7200: To see

my suffering.
מַכְאֹבִ֔י (maḵ·’ō·ḇî)
Noun - masculine singular construct | first person common singular
Strong's 4341: Anguish, affliction

My young men
וּבַחוּרַ֖י (ū·ḇa·ḥū·ray)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine plural construct | first person common singular
Strong's 970: Selected, a youth

and maidens
בְּתוּלֹתַ֥י (bə·ṯū·lō·ṯay)
Noun - feminine plural construct | first person common singular
Strong's 1330: A virgin, sometimes, a bride

have gone
הָלְכ֥וּ (hā·lə·ḵū)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 1980: To go, come, walk

into captivity.
בַשֶּֽׁבִי׃ (ḇaš·še·ḇî)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 7628: Exiled, captured, exile, booty


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OT Prophets: Lamentations 1:18 Yahweh is righteous (Lam. La Lm)
Lamentations 1:17
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