Lamentations 3:28
in Lamentations 3Let him sit alone in silence, for God has disciplined him.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Let him sit alone and keep silence, because he hath laid it upon him.
KJV
He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him.
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This verse in Lamentations 3
Commentary
3 notes on this verseA commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2468: “Solitude, Silence, Submission” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
on Lamentations 3:28-29
THUS the Prophet describes the conduct of a person in deep anguish of heart. When he does not know what to do, his soul, as if by instinct, humbles itself. He gets into some secret place, he utters no speech, he gives himself over to moaning and to tears, and then he bows himself lower and yet lower before the Divine Majesty, as if he felt that the only hope for him in the extremity of his sorrow was to make complete submission to God and to lie in the very dust before Him.
This site's exposition
He sitteth alone and keepeth silence
on Lamentations 3:28-30
He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him, describes a chosen posture, solitude taken up rather than only suffered, the same discipline as the yoke of the verse before it. He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope keeps the posture from becoming despair, an act still aimed at hope even at its lowest physical expression. He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him closes the unit in nonresistance, and the older commentators read it as the pattern of a sufferer who answers violence with submission rather than retaliation, the same spirit the imprecations later in the chapter will test.
The record, by era
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
on Lamentations 3:28-30
He does not fight against the yoke (Jer 31:18; Ac 9:5), but accommodates himself to it. alone--The heathen applauded magnanimity, but they looked to display and the praise of men. The child of God, in the absence of any witness, "alone," silently submits to the will of God. borne it upon him--that is, because he is used to bearing it on him.
The words behind it
6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יֵשֵׁ֤ב | yeshev | let him sit | H3427 → | 1079 times |
| בָּדָד֙ | badad | alone | H910 → | |
| וְיִדֹּ֔ם | veyidom | and let him be silent | H1826 → | 30 times |
| כִּ֥י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| נָטַ֖ל | natal | he has laid [it] | H5190 → | |
| עָלָֽיו׃ | ʾalav | on him | H5921 → | 5755 times |
יֵשֵׁ֤בlet him sit
yeshevH3427 →1079 times
בָּדָד֙alone
badadH910 →
וְיִדֹּ֔םand let him be silent
veyidomH1826 →30 times
כִּ֥יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
נָטַ֖לhe has laid [it]
natalH5190 →
עָלָֽיו׃on him
ʾalavH5921 →5755 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
Psalms 39:9I have become mute; I do not open my mouth because of what You have done.
it leads to
- Job 2:10
“You speak as a foolish woman speaks,” he told her. “Should we accept from God only good and not adversity?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.
- 1 Samuel 3:18
So Samuel told him everything and did not hide a thing from him. “He is the LORD,” replied Eli. “Let Him do what is good in His eyes.”
- Job 40:4–5
“Behold, I am insignificant. How can I reply to You? I place my hand over my mouth.
- Job 2:10
Through
Jeremiah 15:17I never sat with the band of revelers, nor did I celebrate with them. Because Your hand was on me, I sat alone, for You have filled me with indignation.
it leads to
- Psalms 1:1
Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or set foot on the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers.
- Psalms 1:1
Through
Psalms 102:7I lie awake; I am like a lone bird on a housetop.
it leads to
- Psalms 77:4
You have kept my eyes from closing; I am too troubled to speak.
- Psalms 77:4
Through
Lamentations 2:10The elders of the Daughter of Zion sit on the ground in silence. They have thrown dust on their heads and put on sackcloth. The young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to…
it leads to
- Isaiah 3:26
And the gates of Zion will lament and mourn; destitute, she will sit on the ground.
- Isaiah 15:3
In its streets they wear sackcloth; on the rooftops and in the public squares they all wail, falling down weeping.
- Job 2:12–13
When they lifted up their eyes from afar, they could barely recognize Job. They began to weep aloud, and each man tore his robe and threw dust in the air over his head.
- Isaiah 3:26
Where this verse is studied
2 studies on this verse
On Lamentations 3:28
Great Is Thy Faithfulness: Lamentations 3:22–24 · MannaFest
Open the study →
On Lamentations 3:28
The Weeping Prophet — the Confessions of Jeremiah
Open the study →
Also on Lamentations 3: 4 studies that walk through this chapter ▾
About Lamentations
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2468: “Solitude, Silence, Submission” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament.