John Calvin Commentary Lamentations 5:4

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

The Prophet here relates that the people were stripped bare, that they suffered from a lack of water and wood. He does not say that they were only deprived of grain and wine; he does not complain that any of their luxuries were diminished. Instead, he mentions water and wood, the common necessities of life. For the use of water, as it is said, is common to all. No one is so poor, unless they live in a completely dry land, that they do not have enough water to drink.

For if there are no fountains, there are at least rivers and wells; nor do people perish from thirst, except in deserts and uninhabitable places. Since, then, water could be found everywhere, the Prophet here portrays the extreme misery of the people, because water was even sold to them. Water is sold in stony and high places, but this is very rare. The Prophet here means that the people were not only deprived of their wealth but reduced to such a state of need that they had no water without buying it.

At the same time, he seems to express something worse when he says, Our water we drink for money, and our wood is brought to us for a price. It is not strange that wood should be bought. However, the Prophet means that water which had been their own was sold to the Jews, and that they were also compelled to buy wood which had been their own. Thus, the possessive pronouns are to be considered emphatic. The Prophet means, in effect, 'Our own water we drink for money,' and so on. He calls them the waters of the people, which by right they could have claimed as their own; and he likewise refers to the wood as their own, to which the people had a legitimate right. He then says that all things had been so taken away by their enemies that they were forced to buy not only the wine taken from their cellars and the grain taken from their granaries, but also the water and the wood.

However, if anyone were inclined to take the words more simply, the complaint would still be fitting: that the people, who previously had an abundance of wine and all other things, were now forced to buy everything, even water and wood. For it is a severe change when anyone, who could once cut their own wood and gather their own wine and grain, is not able to get even a drop of water without buying it. This is a sad change. This passage can also be understood in this way.