Lamentations 5:12

Princes were hanged up by their hand,

The faces of elders were not honoured.

The cruelty of conquerors was well known. The ‘princes' may well have been dead, for the display of the dead bodies of important people was a regular practise (compare Saul and his princely sons in 1 Samuel 31:10; 1 Samuel 31:12). We know from the ancient records that it was certainly an Assyrian practise. The idea was to shame the leadership and frighten people into submission. But it would not be unknown for men to be hung up alive, as centuries later Jesus Christ would be for our sins.

The elders and the older men in any nation were usually treated with respect. But it was not so in this case. Here they were from a land of rebels. Thus instead of being honoured they were ‘not honoured', that is, were treated with disrespect.