What is the meaning of Lamentations 5:6?

We submitted

• “We submitted” reveals an act of willing surrender. Judah, under siege and starvation, chose to place itself under foreign protection rather than seek the LORD first (Jeremiah 2:36-37; Psalm 20:7).

• The verb highlights moral failure: leaning on human alliances contradicts God’s command to trust Him alone (Isaiah 31:1; 30:1-2).

• It also underscores humiliation—God’s covenant people, once delivered from bondage, now bow to former foes, echoing Deuteronomy 28:47-48 where disobedience leads to serving enemies “in hunger, thirst, nakedness, and lack of everything.”

---

to Egypt and Assyria

• Egypt and Assyria symbolize the great powers on either side of Judah. Turning to both shows desperation—seeking help in opposite directions instead of returning to the covenant God (Hosea 7:11; 12:1).

• Egypt represents a return to the house of slavery from which God had redeemed them (Exodus 13:3; Isaiah 30:1-3).

• Assyria once devastated the northern kingdom (2 Kings 17:6). Appealing to that same empire exposes Judah’s forgetfulness of history and of God’s warnings (Nahum 3:1-4).

• The pairing emphasizes that no earthly nation, no matter how mighty, could supply what obedience to the LORD would have provided (Psalm 33:16-19).

---

to get enough bread

• Physical hunger drove political compromise. Famine accompanied Babylon’s siege (Jeremiah 52:6), fulfilling the curses for covenant infidelity (Leviticus 26:26).

• Bread here stands for basic provision. God had pledged abundance in the land if His people walked in His ways (Deuteronomy 28:1-5). Their quest for bread outside the covenant shows misplaced trust (Matthew 6:31-33).

• The verse therefore testifies that spiritual unfaithfulness produces material want; turning to worldly suppliers brings only temporary relief and deeper bondage (Isaiah 55:2; John 6:26-27).

---

summary

Lamentations 5:6 captures Judah’s tragic choice: under pressure, the nation surrendered to foreign powers—Egypt and Assyria—in a bid for mere survival. This single verse exposes the folly of abandoning reliance on God, the humiliation of reverting to old oppressors, and the futility of seeking bread apart from covenant faithfulness. True security and provision remain with the LORD alone, who calls His people back to wholehearted trust and obedience.