Lamentations 3:9
in Lamentations 3He has barred my ways with cut stones; He has made my paths crooked.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
He hath walled up my ways with hewn stone; he hath made my paths crooked.
KJV
He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my paths crooked.
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This verse in Lamentations 3
Commentary
2 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Inclosed - Or, hedged Lam 3:7. Hath, made crooked - Or, “hath” turned aside. A solid wall being built across the main road, Jeremiah turns aside into by-ways, but finds them turned aside, so that they lead him back after long wandering to the place from where he started.
This site's exposition
He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out
on Lamentations 3:7-9
He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out, he hath made my chain heavy, describes affliction as a walled prison rather than an open wound, escape itself refused along with relief. Even prayer is shut out, when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer, the sufferer's last recourse met with the same silence as every other door. Hewn stone across the ways and paths made crooked complete the picture; Gill reads the unit as despair not of comfort only but of direction, a man who cannot tell which way even leads forward.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
He is a bear lying in wait for me. The Holy One, Blessed Is He, turned into a bear in wait for me. 7 Alternatively, bear refers to Nevuchadnetzar who lay in wait to attack the Bnei Yisroel who are symbolized by a lion. (Eichah Rabbah:4)
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
5 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| גָּדַ֤ר | gadar | he has walled up | H1443 → | |
| דְּרָכַי֙ | derakhai | ways my | H1870 → | 707 times |
| בְּגָזִ֔ית | begazit | with hewn [stone] | H1496 → | |
| נְתִיבֹתַ֖י | netivotai | paths my | H5410 → | |
| עִוָּֽה׃ ס | ʾivah | he has made crooked | H5753 → |
גָּדַ֤רhe has walled up
gadarH1443 →
דְּרָכַי֙ways my
derakhaiH1870 →707 times
בְּגָזִ֔יתwith hewn [stone]
begazitH1496 →
נְתִיבֹתַ֖יpaths my
netivotaiH5410 →
עִוָּֽה׃ סhe has made crooked
ʾivahH5753 →
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
Isaiah 30:28His breath is like a rushing torrent that rises to the neck. He comes to sift the nations in a sieve of destruction; He bridles the jaws of the peoples to lead them astray.
it leads to
- Isaiah 37:29
Because your rage and arrogance against Me have reached My ears, I will put My hook in your nose and My bit in your mouth; I will send you back the way you came.’
- Isaiah 11:4
but with righteousness He will judge the poor, and with equity He will decide for the lowly of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth and slay the…
- Isaiah 37:29
Through
Isaiah 63:17Why, O LORD, do You make us stray from Your ways and harden our hearts from fearing You? Return, for the sake of Your servants, the tribes of Your heritage.
it leads to
- Isaiah 6:10
Make the hearts of this people calloused; deafen their ears and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
- Joshua 11:20
For it was of the LORD to harden their hearts to engage Israel in battle, so that they would be set apart for destruction and would receive no mercy, being annihilated as the LORD…
- Ezekiel 14:7–9
For when any Israelite or any foreigner dwelling in Israel separates himself from Me, sets up idols in his heart, and puts a wicked stumbling block before his face, and then comes to the…
- Deuteronomy 2:30
But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass through, for the LORD your God had made his spirit stubborn and his heart obstinate, that He might deliver him into your hand, as…
- Isaiah 6:10
Through
Hosea 2:6Therefore, behold, I will hedge up her path with thorns; I will enclose her with a wall, so she cannot find her way.
it leads to
- Job 19:8
He has blocked my way so I cannot pass; He has veiled my paths with darkness.
- Lamentations 3:7–9
He has walled me in so I cannot escape; He has weighed me down with chains.
- Job 19:8
Where this verse is studied
2 studies on this verse
On Lamentations 3:9
Great Is Thy Faithfulness: Lamentations 3:22–24 · MannaFest
Open the study →
On Lamentations 3:9
The Weeping Prophet — the Confessions of Jeremiah
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Also on Lamentations 3: 4 studies that walk through this chapter ▾
About Lamentations
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, Lamentations and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament.