Original Word: שָׂקַד
Part of Speech: Verb
Transliteration: saqad
Pronunciation: sah-KAHD
Phonetic Spelling: (saw-kad')
KJV: bind
NASB: bound
Word Origin: [a primitive root]

1. to fasten

bind

A primitive root; to fasten -- bind.

Word Origin
a prim. root
Definition
perhaps to bind on
NASB Translation
bound (1).

[שָׂקַד] doubtful verb, †i bind on; —

Niph`al Perfect3masculine singular נִשְׂקַד עֹל Lamentations 1:14 (figurative); read perhaps נִשְׁקַד עַל watch is kept upon ᵐ5 ᵑ6 ᵑ9 Bu, compare Thes (see שׁקד); others conjecture in Löhr Bi.

שׂקק (assumed as √ of following, but nowhere found).

Meaning and Imagery

The verb שָׂקַד pictures something twisted or plaited together until it forms a single cord. In Lamentations this imagery is transferred to moral guilt: individual acts of rebellion are not isolated threads but are woven into an inescapable yoke that bears down on the sinner.

Single Biblical Occurrence

Lamentations 1:14 places the term in the lament over devastated Jerusalem:

“My transgressions are bound into a yoke; by His hand they are knotted together. They have been hung on my neck, and the Lord has weakened my strength. He has delivered me into the hands of those I cannot withstand.” (Berean Standard Bible)

The piling-up of participles conveys deliberate divine action: sin is first “bound,” then “knotted together,” then “hung” on the neck. שָׂקַד supplies the central image of sins intimately intertwined so that removal is humanly impossible.

Historical Setting

Lamentations rises from the ashes of 586 BC. Jerusalem’s political collapse, temple destruction, famine, and exile are interpreted not merely as the triumph of Babylon but as covenant chastisement. The verb underscores that Judah’s misery is self-inflicted: what Babylon tightens, Judah herself has spun.

Theological Significance

1. Corporate guilt: The woven yoke rests on the “neck” of the city, showing that national sin produces national consequences (compare Deuteronomy 28:15–48).
2. Divine justice: The Lord is not a passive observer; He gathers the strands and fastens them. Justice is personal, measured, and exact.
3. Total inability: Once the yoke is in place, “I cannot withstand” (Lamentations 1:14). The sinner’s strength collapses under accumulated wrongdoing, preparing the way for grace that must come from outside the guilty party.

Intertextual Echoes

• The braided “yoke” contrasts with the “easy” and “light” yoke of Matthew 11:29–30. What Judah could not bear, Christ offers to carry.
• Isaiah 10:27 promises that the Assyrian yoke “will be broken because of the anointing.” Lamentations shows the yoke fully fixed; later prophetic hope reveals its future shattering.
• The tightening cords recall Proverbs 5:22: “The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him; he is caught in the cords of his sin.” Lamentations provides the historical case study.

Pastoral and Ministry Applications

• Preaching repentance: Sẖaqad underlines how sins accumulate. Addressing “respectable” sins early keeps them from hardening into an oppressive yoke.
• Lament as worship: The verse models honest confession that attributes suffering to divine holiness, not fate or chance.
• Counseling the broken: Those crushed by their own choices need to see both the reality of the yoke and the Redeemer who alone can cut its cords (John 8:36).

Christ in Focus

Where Judah’s sins were woven into bondage, Christ “became sin for us” (2 Corinthians 5:21), taking the entire yoke upon Himself at the cross. His resurrection declares the cords severed and invites repentant believers into the liberty of adopted sons.

נִשְׂקַד֩ נשקד niś·qaḏ nisKad niśqaḏInterlinear Greek • Interlinear Hebrew • Strong's Numbers • Englishman's Greek Concordance • Englishman's Hebrew Concordance • Parallel Texts