John Gill Commentary Lamentations 5:9

"We get our bread at the peril of our lives, Because of the sword of the wilderness." — Lamentations 5:9 (ASV)

We got our bread [with the peril of] our lives This seems to refer to the time of the siege when they privately went out of the city to get in some provision, but went in danger of their lives:

because of the sword of the wilderness : or, "of the plain" ^F20 ; because of the, word of the Chaldean army, which lay in the plain about Jerusalem into whose hand there was danger of falling, and of being cut to pieces.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F20: (rbdmh brx ynpm) "propter gladium [in] deserto, [sive] plano", Gataker.