Lamentations 5:13
New International Version
Young men toil at the millstones; boys stagger under loads of wood.

New Living Translation
Young men are led away to work at millstones, and boys stagger under heavy loads of wood.

English Standard Version
Young men are compelled to grind at the mill, and boys stagger under loads of wood.

Berean Standard Bible
Young men toil at millstones; boys stagger under loads of wood.

King James Bible
They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood.

New King James Version
Young men ground at the millstones; Boys staggered under loads of wood.

New American Standard Bible
Young men worked at the grinding mill, And youths staggered under loads of wood.

NASB 1995
Young men worked at the grinding mill, And youths stumbled under loads of wood.

NASB 1977
Young men worked at the grinding mill; And youths stumbled under loads of wood.

Legacy Standard Bible
Young men lifted up the stone at the grinding mill, And youths stumbled down under loads of wood.

Amplified Bible
Young men worked at the grinding mill, And boys fell [staggering] under loads of wood.

Christian Standard Bible
Young men labor at millstones; boys stumble under loads of wood.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Young men labor at millstones; boys stumble under loads of wood.

American Standard Version
The young men bare the mill; And the children stumbled under the wood.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
The young men ground meal with the millstone and boys stumbled with wood

Brenton Septuagint Translation
The chosen men lifted up the voice in weeping, and the youths fainted under the wood.

Contemporary English Version
Young men are forced to do the work of slaves; boys must carry heavy loads of wood.

Douay-Rheims Bible
They abused the young men indecently: and the children fell under the wood.

English Revised Version
The young men bare the mill, and the children stumbled under the wood.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
[Our] young men work at the mill, and [our] boys stagger under loads of wood.

Good News Translation
Our young men are forced to grind grain like slaves; boys go staggering under heavy loads of wood.

International Standard Version
Our young men must grind grain with a millstone; our youths stumble under the weight of wood.

JPS Tanakh 1917
The young men have borne the mill, And the children have stumbled under the wood.

Literal Standard Version
They have taken young men to grind, | And youths have stumbled with wood.

Majority Standard Bible
Young men toil at millstones; boys stagger under loads of wood.

New American Bible
Young men carry millstones, boys stagger under loads of wood;

NET Bible
The young men perform menial labor; boys stagger from their labor.

New Revised Standard Version
Young men are compelled to grind, and boys stagger under loads of wood.

New Heart English Bible
The young men grind at the mill; the boys stagger under loads of wood.

Webster's Bible Translation
They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood.

World English Bible
The young men carry millstones. The children stumbled under loads of wood.

Young's Literal Translation
Young men to grind they have taken, And youths with wood have stumbled.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
A Prayer for Restoration
12Princes have been hung up by their hands; elders receive no respect. 13Young men toil at millstones; boys stagger under loads of wood. 14The elders have left the city gate; the young men have stopped their music.…

Cross References
Judges 16:21
Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, where he was bound with bronze shackles and forced to grind grain in the prison.

Jeremiah 7:18
The sons gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough to make cakes for the Queen of Heaven; they pour out drink offerings to other gods to provoke Me to anger.


Treasury of Scripture

They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood.

the young

Exodus 11:5
And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of beasts.

Judges 16:21
But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house.

Job 31:10
Then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her.

fell

Exodus 1:11
Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.

Exodus 2:11
And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren.

Exodus 23:5
If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him.

Jump to Previous
Bare Borne Boys Children Compelled Crushing Falling Fell Grain Grind Grinding Loads Mill Millstones Stagger Stumbled Toil Wood Worked Young Youths
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Bare Borne Boys Children Compelled Crushing Falling Fell Grain Grind Grinding Loads Mill Millstones Stagger Stumbled Toil Wood Worked Young Youths
Lamentations 5
1. A complaint of Zion in prayer unto God.














(13) They took . . .--Better, Young men bear the mill: i.e., were not only set to grind the handmill, which was itself the work of a menial slave, commonly of women, but were made to carry the mill itself, probably as they marched along with the Chaldaean armies on their way to Babylon. (Comp. Isaiah 47:2.) So in like manner the next clause describes the sufferings of the striplings, who were made to carry the wood which was used as fuel or other purposes, and who literally "fell" (or staggered) under their burdens.

Verse 13. - They took the young men to grind; rather, the young men have borne the mill. The lower millstone seems to have been specially hard, and therefore heavy (see Job 41:24), and to carry it about must have required a more severe exertion even than the constant turning of the mill handle. Dr. Thomson "cannot recall an instance in which men were grinding at the mill" ('The Land and the Book,' edit. 1881, p. 108), and both Exodus 11:5 and Matthew 24:41 presuppose that it was women's work. The conquered Jewish youths, however, share the fate of Samson -

"Eyeless, in Gaza, at the mill with slaves."

(Samson Agonistes,' 41.) Eyeless, indeed, they may some of them have been, as putting out the eyes was a common Oriental punishment (comp. Jeremiah 39:7). The children. This is, perhaps, too strong. The Hebrew na'ar is applicable, not only to children, but to youths at the age for marriage (Genesis 34:19) or war (1 Kings 20:15). The wood; not the wooden handle of the mill, but the wood required for fuel.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Young men
בַּחוּרִים֙ (ba·ḥū·rîm)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 970: Selected, a youth

toil
נָשָׂ֔אוּ (nā·śā·’ū)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 5375: To lift, carry, take

at millstones;
טְח֣וֹן (ṭə·ḥō·wn)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 2911: A hand mill, a millstone

boys
וּנְעָרִ֖ים (ū·nə·‘ā·rîm)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 5288: A boy, lad, youth, retainer

stagger
כָּשָֽׁלוּ׃ (kā·šā·lū)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 3782: To totter, waver, to falter, stumble, faint, fall

under loads of wood.
בָּעֵ֥ץ (bā·‘êṣ)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 6086: Tree, trees, wood


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OT Prophets: Lamentations 5:13 The young men bare the mill (Lam. La Lm)
Lamentations 5:12
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