Lamentations 5:6

We have submitted ¹  to Egypt and Assyria in order to buy food to eat. ² 

We submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough bread.

We have submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough bread.

We submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough food to survive.

We sold ourselves to Assyria and Egypt just to get something to eat.

We have given our hands to the Egyptians and to the Assyrians so that we might have enough bread.

We have made a pact with Egypt and Assyria, to get enough bread.

We have given our hand to the Egyptians And the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.

We have submitted ¹  to Egypt and Assyria in order to buy food to eat. ² 

¹ tn Heb “we have given the hand”; cf. NRSV “We have made a pact.” This is a Semitic idiom meaning “to make a treaty with” someone, placing oneself in a subservient position as vassal. The prophets criticized these treaties.

² tn Heb “bread.” The term “bread” is a synecdoche of specific (= bread) for the general (= food).