Albert Barnes Commentary Lamentations 5:4

"We have drunken our water for money; Our wood is sold unto us." — Lamentations 5:4 (ASV)

Better, as in the margin, it signifies 'price' to us. The rendering of the King James Version spoils the carefully studied rhythm of the original. The bitterness of the complaint lies in this: that they had to buy their own property.