Charles Ellicott Commentary Lamentations 5:6

"We have given the hand to the Egyptians, And to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread." — Lamentations 5:6 (ASV)

We have given the hand. —The recognised phrase for submission (Jeremiah 1:15). “Assyria,” as in Jeremiah 2:18; Ezra 6:22, stands for “Babylon.” The people had been forced by sheer pressure of hunger to submit to one or other of these princes. “Egypt” refers, probably, to the fugitives who had sought a home in that country (Jeremiah 42:14).