Lamentations 3:12 BSB

Lamentations 3:12

He bent His bow and set me as the target for His arrow.

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.

KJV

He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.

⋯

Commentary

2 voices

John Gill

1697–1771

Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)

He hath bent his bow,.... Which is put for all the instruments, of war; the Chaldeans were archers, and shot their arrows into the city: and set me as a mark for the arrow; as a target to shoot at; signifying that God dealt with him, or his people, as enemies, the object of his wrath and indignation; and if he directed his arrow against them, it must needs hit them; there was no escaping his vengeance; see Job 7:20.

The record, by era

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible (1832)

He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow - One might conjecture that the following thought in the Toozek i Teemour was borrowed from this: - “One addressed the caliph Aaly, and said, ‘If the heavens were a bow, and the earth the cord thereof; if calamities were arrows, man the butt for those arrows; and the holy blessed God the unerring marksman; where could the sons of Adam flee for succor?’ The caliph replied, ‘The children of Adam must flee unto the Lord.’” This was the state of poor Jerusalem.

Voices on this verse

loading…

Original language & word study

5 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
דָּרַ֤ךְ	da.Rakh	he has bent	H1869 →
קַשְׁתוֹ֙	kash.To	bow his	H7198 →
וַיַּצִּיבֵ֔נִי	vai.ya.tzi.Ve.ni	and he has set up me	H5324 →
כַּמַּטָּרָ֖א	ka.ma.ta.Ra'	like <the> target	H4307 →
לַחֵֽץ׃ ס	la.Chetz	for <the> arrow	H2671 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

H1869darakhhe has bent62×

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Psalms 38:2
For Your arrows have pierced me deeply, and Your hand has pressed down on me.
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 independent paths from here.
- Psalms 32:4
  For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was drained as in the summer heat. Selah
Through
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.
leads to
- Psalms 38:2
  For Your arrows have pierced me deeply, and Your hand has pressed down on me.
- Job 30:15
  Terrors are turned loose against me; they drive away my dignity as by the wind, and my prosperity has passed like a cloud.
- Psalms 88:15–16
  From my youth I was afflicted and near death. I have borne Your terrors; I am in despair.
- Proverbs 18:14
  The spirit of a man can endure his sickness, but who can survive a broken spirit?
Through
Lamentations 2:4
He has bent His bow like an enemy; His right hand is positioned. Like a foe He has killed all who were pleasing to the eye; He has poured out His wrath like fire…
leads to
- Jeremiah 7:20
  Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, My anger and My fury will be poured out on this place, on man and beast, on the trees of the field and the produce…
- Jeremiah 21:5
  And I Myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and a mighty arm, with anger, fury, and great wrath.

Featured studies on this passage

On Lamentations 3:12

Great Is Thy Faithfulness: Lamentations 3:22–24 · MannaFest

Open the study →

On Lamentations 3:12

The Weeping Prophet — the Confessions of Jeremiah

Open the study →

Walks through Lamentations 3

Acrostics: From Aleph to Taw

Open the study →

Walks through Lamentations 3

The Fruit of the Spirit

Galatians 5:22–23 names a singular fruit (karpos, not fruits) with nine visible facets. Gifts are distributed; fruit is unified. Every believer bears the whole fruit. The grammar is the theology.

Open the study →

Walks through Lamentations 3

Lamentations — the Study Guide

Open the study →

Walks through Lamentations 3

The Yoke

Open the study →

About Lamentations

People Mourn over the Destruction of Jerusalem — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

Lamentations: the study guide →Read chapter 3 →The featured study →

Continue: Lamentations 3 →

01Commentary

The record, by era

Voices on this verse

02Original language & word study

03The walk

Where the connections lead

04Related verses

05Featured studies on this passage

06About Lamentations

The record, by era

Where the connections lead

Commentary

Original language & word study

The walk

Related verses

Featured studies on this passage

About Lamentations