Lamentations 3:1
in Lamentations 3I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of God’s wrath.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.
KJV
I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.
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This verse in Lamentations 3
Commentary
8 notes on this verseI am the man that hath seen affliction - Either the prophet speaks here of himself, or he is personating his miserable countrymen. This and other passages in this poem have been applied to Jesus Christ’s passion; but, in my opinion, without any foundation.
This site's exposition
I am the man who has seen affliction
on Lamentations 3:1-6
Chapter 3 is a triple acrostic, sixty-six verses giving three verses to each of the twenty-two letters. The voice moves from the city to one man: “I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of God’s wrath”. He is made to “walk in darkness instead of light”.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
After an enumeration of many penalties (in Chapter 2) the despair of the people is excluded. Such exclusion is divided twofold. First, despair is considered by appeals, second, is the argument for a fidelity that must be acceptable. Third, an assumed faithfulness turns the people …
The Reformation1 voice
Jeremiah, then, does not here plead his own private cause, but shews to his own nation what remedy there was for them in such a state of despair, even to have an immediate recourse to God, and on the one hand to consider their sins, and on the other to look to the mercy of God, so that they might entertain hope, and exercise themselves in prayer.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
I am the man that hath seen affliction,....
By this rod we must expect to see affliction, and, if we be made to see more than ordinary affliction by that rod, we must not quarrel, for we are sure that the anger is just and affliction mild and mixed with mercy. That he is at a loss and altogether in the dark.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
seen affliction--his own in the dungeon of Malchiah (Jer 38:6); that of his countrymen also in the siege. Both were types of that of Christ.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
That hath seen affliction - i. e. hath experienced, suffered it.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אֲנִ֤י | ʾani | I | H589 → | 874 times |
| הַגֶּ֙בֶר֙ | hagever | [am] the man | H1397 → | 65 times |
| רָאָ֣ה | raah | [who] he has seen | H7200 → | 1300 times |
| עֳנִ֔י | ʾoni | affliction | H6040 → | 36 times |
| בְּשֵׁ֖בֶט | beshevet | by [the] rod of | H7626 → | |
| עֶבְרָתֽוֹ׃ | evrato | fury his | H5678 → |
אֲנִ֤יI
ʾaniH589 →874 times
הַגֶּ֙בֶר֙[am] the man
hageverH1397 →65 times
רָאָ֣ה[who] he has seen
raahH7200 →1300 times
עֳנִ֔יaffliction
ʾoniH6040 →36 times
בְּשֵׁ֖בֶטby [the] rod of
beshevetH7626 →
עֶבְרָתֽוֹ׃fury his
evratoH5678 →
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 88:7Your wrath weighs heavily upon me; all Your waves have submerged me. Selah
it leads to
- Job 6:4
For the arrows of the Almighty have pierced me; my spirit drinks in their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 42:7
Deep calls to deep in the roar of Your waterfalls; all Your breakers and waves have rolled over me.
- Job 6:4
Through
Jeremiah 38:6So they took Jeremiah and dropped him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king’s son, which was in the courtyard of the guard. They lowered Jeremiah with ropes into the cistern, which had no…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 37:21
So King Zedekiah gave orders for Jeremiah to be placed in the courtyard of the guard and given a loaf of bread daily from the street of the bakers, until all the bread in…
- Psalms 69:2
I have sunk into the miry depths, where there is no footing; I have drifted into deep waters, where the flood engulfs me.
- Jeremiah 37:16
So Jeremiah went into a cell in the dungeon and remained there a long time.
- Psalms 69:14–15
Rescue me from the mire and do not let me sink; deliver me from my foes and out of the deep waters.
- Jeremiah 38:22
All the women who remain in the palace of the king of Judah will be brought out to the officials of the king of Babylon, and those women will say: ‘They misled you and…
- Jeremiah 37:21
Through
Job 19:21Have pity on me, my friends, have pity, for the hand of God has struck me.
it leads to
- Job 1:11
But stretch out Your hand and strike all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face.”
- Job 1:11
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies17
On this verse
On this chapter
About Lamentations
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, Lamentations; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Lamentations.