Lamentations 3:11
in Lamentations 3He forced me off my path and tore me to pieces; He left me without help.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces; he hath made me desolate.
KJV
He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath made me desolate.
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This verse in Lamentations 3
Commentary
5 notes on this verseHe hath turned aside my ways,.... Or caused me to depart or go back from the way I was in, and so fall into the hand of the enemy that lay in wait, as before. Jarchi interprets the word of thorns, and of scattering the way with thorns, and hedging it up with them, so that there was no passing, Hos 2:6; the sense seems to be the same with Lam 3:9; and pulled me in pieces: as any creature that falls into the hands of a bear or lion.
This site's exposition
He is a bear lying in wait
on Lamentations 3:10-13
The Lord's dealing is pictured as an ambush: “He is a bear lying in wait, a lion hiding in ambush”. The predator gives way to violence: “He forced me off my path and tore me to pieces”. Then comes the archer, who “set me as the target for His arrow”.
This site's exposition
tore me to pieces
The bear and the lion of Lamentations 3:10 finish their attack. Albert Barnes reads the verse as a flight that failed, the man forced off his path and torn by the beast. John Gill and Matthew Henry hear Hosea 5:14, where the LORD tears like a lion and goes away.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
The manner for afflicting is stated here. First the manner is insidious, second, it is open. Regarding the insidious manner for afflicting two more ideas are presented. First is the insidious action of enemies. "He is to me like a bear lying in wait, like …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
), " He has turned aside my ways; he has blasted all my counsels, ruined my projects, so that I am necessitated to yield to my own ruin. He has pulled me in pieces; he has torn and is gone away ( Hos. v. 14 ), and has made me desolate, has deprived me of all society and all comfort in my own soul." 6. That God turns a deaf ear to his prayers (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
He spread thorns across my roads. An expression of thorns, [meaning that] He “has strewn” them with thorns, [i.e.,] He scattered thorns on my ways. 8 Alternatively, ‘he forced me off my path.’ (Ibn Ezra)
2 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
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)
[He] positioned me as a target. He set me up opposite His arrows to shoot at me like a target, 12 By having to hurdle over the thorns I was forced to slow down, thereby becoming an easy target for my enemy. (Lechem Dimah) aseneil in O.F.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| דְּרָכַ֥י | derakhai | ways my | H1870 → | 707 times |
| סוֹרֵ֛ר | sorer | he has caused to deviate | H5493 → | 299 times |
| וַֽיְפַשְּׁחֵ֖נִי | vayfashecheni | and he has torn in pieces me | H6582 → | |
| שָׂמַ֥נִי | samani | he has made me | H7760 → | |
| שֹׁמֵֽם׃ | shomem | desolate | H8076 → |
דְּרָכַ֥יways my
derakhaiH1870 →707 times
סוֹרֵ֛רhe has caused to deviate
sorerH5493 →299 times
וַֽיְפַשְּׁחֵ֖נִיand he has torn in pieces me
vayfashecheniH6582 →
שָׂמַ֥נִיhe has made me
samaniH7760 →
שֹׁמֵֽם׃desolate
shomemH8076 →
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
Hosea 6:1Come, let us return to the LORD. For He has torn us to pieces, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bind up our wounds.
it leads to
- Job 5:18
For He wounds, but He also binds; He strikes, but His hands also heal.
- Deuteronomy 32:39
See now that I am He; there is no God besides Me. I bring death and I give life; I wound and I heal, and there is no one who can deliver from My…
- 1 Samuel 2:6
The LORD brings death and gives life; He brings down to Sheol and raises up.
- Lamentations 3:40–41
Let us examine and test our ways, and turn back to the LORD.
- Hosea 14:4
I will heal their apostasy; I will freely love them, for My anger has turned away from them.
- Job 5:18
Through
Lamentations 1:13He sent fire from on high, and it overpowered my bones. He spread a net for my feet and turned me back. He made me desolate, faint all the day long.
it leads to
- Job 30:30
My skin grows black and peels, and my bones burn with fever.
- Job 30:30
Through
Jeremiah 5:6Therefore a lion from the forest will strike them down, a wolf from the desert will ravage them. A leopard will lie in wait near their cities, and everyone who ventures out will be…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 4:7
A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his lair to lay waste your land. Your cities will be reduced to ruins and…
- Habakkuk 1:8
Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves of the night. Their horsemen charge ahead, and their cavalry comes from afar. They fly like a vulture, swooping down to devour.
- Jeremiah 4:7
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); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Lamentations.