Lamentations 5:4 - Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

We have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold unto us. We have drunken our water for money. The Jews were compelled to pay the enemy for the water of their own cisterns after the overthrow of Jerusalem. Or rather, it refers to their sojourn in Babylon: they had to pay tax for access to the rivers and fountains. Thus, "our" means the water which we need, the commonest necessary of life. Our wood is sold unto us. In Judea each one could get wood without pay; in Babylon "our wood," the wood we need, must be paid for.