Lamentations 1:12
in Lamentations 1Is this nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look around and see! Is there any sorrow like mine, which was inflicted on me, which the LORD made me suffer on the day of His fierce anger?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is brought upon me, Wherewith Jehovah hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.
KJV
Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.
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This verse in Lamentations 1
Commentary
4 notes on this verseIs it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? - The desolations and distress brought upon this city and its inhabitants had scarcely any parallel. Excessive abuse of God’s accumulated mercies calls for singular and exemplary punishment.
This site's exposition
Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by
on Lamentations 1:12-16
The chapter's most quoted line addresses every passerby directly, is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by, behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. In the poem's own setting the cry is Jerusalem's over her own ruin, fire sent into the bones, a net for the feet, the Lord treading the virgin daughter of Judah as in a winepress. A long line of Christian reading, carried into Good Friday's own liturgy, has heard the verse again on the lips of Christ; the bench names the reading as devotional application rather than the text's original address, both stated without erasing either.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
She here looks beyond the instruments to the author of her troubles, and owns them all to be directed, determined, and disposed of by him: "It is the Lord that has afflicted me, and he has afflicted me because he is angry with me; the greatness of his displeasure may be measured by the greatness of my distress; it is in the day of his fierce anger, "
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The pathetic appeal of Jerusalem, not only to her neighbors, but even to the strangers "passing by," as her sorrow is such as should excite the compassion even of those unconnected with her. She here prefigures Christ, whom the language is prophetically made to suit, more than Jerusalem. Compare Israel, that is, Messiah, Isa 49:3.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
May this not happen to you. Such a calamity should not happen to all those who transgress the law.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
Crushing it. It [the fire] crushed it and broke it through punishment and suffering.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
20 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ל֣וֹא | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| אֲלֵיכֶם֮ | ʾaleikhem | to you | H413 → | 5510 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | O all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| עֹ֣בְרֵי | oerei | [those who] pass by of | H5674 → | 556 times |
| דֶרֶךְ֒ | derekh | [the] road | H1870 → | 707 times |
| הַבִּ֣יטוּ | habitu | look | H5027 → | 69 times |
| וּרְא֗וּ | ureu | and see | H7200 → | 1300 times |
| אִם־ | ʾim- | if | H518 → | 1069 times |
| יֵ֤שׁ | yesh | there | H3426 → | |
| מַכְאוֹב֙ | makhov | [is] pain | H4341 → | 16 times |
| כְּמַכְאֹבִ֔י | kemakhovi | like pain my | H4341 → | 16 times |
| אֲשֶׁ֥ר | ʾasher | which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| עוֹלַ֖ל | olal | it has been done | H5953 → | 20 times |
| לִ֑י | li | to me | ||
| אֲשֶׁר֙ | ʾasher | which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| הוֹגָ֣ה | hogah | he has caused grief | H3013 → | 8 times |
| יְהוָ֔ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| בְּי֖וֹם | beyom | on [the] day of | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| חֲר֥וֹן | charon | [the] burning of | H2740 → | |
| אַפּֽוֹ׃ ס | ʾapo | anger his | H639 → | 276 times |
ל֣וֹאnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
אֲלֵיכֶם֮to you
ʾaleikhemH413 →5510 times
כָּל־O all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
עֹ֣בְרֵי[those who] pass by of
oereiH5674 →556 times
דֶרֶךְ֒[the] road
derekhH1870 →707 times
הַבִּ֣יטוּlook
habituH5027 →69 times
וּרְא֗וּand see
ureuH7200 →1300 times
אִם־if
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
יֵ֤שׁthere
yeshH3426 →
מַכְאוֹב֙[is] pain
makhovH4341 →16 times
כְּמַכְאֹבִ֔יlike pain my
kemakhoviH4341 →16 times
אֲשֶׁ֥רwhich
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
עוֹלַ֖לit has been done
olalH5953 →20 times
לִ֑יto me
li
אֲשֶׁר֙which
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
הוֹגָ֣הhe has caused grief
hogahH3013 →8 times
יְהוָ֔הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
בְּי֖וֹםon [the] day of
beyomH3117 →2304 times
חֲר֥וֹן[the] burning of
charonH2740 →
אַפּֽוֹ׃ סanger his
ʾapoH639 →276 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Jeremiah 30:24The fierce anger of the LORD will not turn back until He has fully accomplished the purposes of His heart. In the days to come you will understand this.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 23:20
The anger of the LORD will not turn back until He has fully accomplished the purposes of His heart. In the days to come you will understand this clearly.
- Hosea 3:5
Afterward, the people of Israel will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the LORD and to His goodness in the last days.
- Micah 4:1
In the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and the peoples will stream to…
- Jeremiah 23:20
Through
Jeremiah 18:16They have made their land a desolation, a perpetual object of scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and shake their heads.
it leads to
- Psalms 22:7
All who see me mock me; they sneer and shake their heads:
- Jeremiah 25:9
behold, I will summon all the families of the north, declares the LORD, and I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, whom I will bring against this land, against its residents,…
- Jeremiah 19:8
I will make this city a desolation and an object of scorn. All who pass by will be appalled and will scoff at all her wounds.
- 1 Kings 9:8
And when this temple has become a heap of rubble, all who pass by it will be appalled and will hiss and say, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land…
- Psalms 22:7
Through
Daniel 9:12You have carried out the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing upon us a great disaster. For under all of heaven, nothing has ever been done like what has been…
it leads to
- Ezekiel 5:9
Because of all your abominations, I will do to you what I have never done before and will never do again.
- Ezekiel 5:9
Where this verse is studied
2 studies on this verse
About Lamentations
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.