Lamentations 3:14
in Lamentations 3I am a laughingstock to all my people; they mock me in song all day long.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
I am become a derision to all my people, and their song all the day.
KJV
I was a derision to all my people; and their song all the day.
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This verse in Lamentations 3
Commentary
5 notes on this verseThird, the delusion of those persons punished is exposed: "I have become the laughing stock of all peoples, the burden of their songs all day long." As elsewhere said: "I have become a laughing stock all the day; every one mocks me." (Jeremiah 20:7). That …
This site's exposition
I am a laughingstock to all my people
on Lamentations 3:14-18
“He has intoxicated me with wormwood”, the bitter plant Deuteronomy 29:18 names as the fruit of turning from the covenant. The unit ends at its lowest point, with hope named as gone: “My strength has perished, along with my hope from the LORD”.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
): I was a derision to all my people, to all the wicked among them, who made themselves an one another merry with the public judgments, and particularly the prophet Jeremiah's griefs. I am their song, their neginath, or hand-instrument of music, their tabret ( Job xvii. 6 ), that they play upon, as Nero on his harp when Rome was on fire.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
I was a derision to all my people,.... So Jeremiah was to the people of the Jews, and especially to his townsmen, the men of Anathoth, Jer 20:7; but if he represents the body of the people, others must be intended; for they could not be a derision to themselves.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Jeremiah herein was a type of Messiah. "All my people" (Joh 1:11).
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
The arrows of His quiver. Arrows that are put into the quiver, called cuivre [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
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הָיִ֤יתִי | hayiti | I have become | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| שְּׂחֹק֙ | sechok | a laughingstock | H7814 → | |
| לְכָל־ | lekhol | to all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| עַמִּ֔י | ʾami | people my | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| נְגִינָתָ֖ם | neginatam | taunt song their | H5058 → | |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| הַיּֽוֹם׃ | haiyom | the day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
הָיִ֤יתִיI have become
hayitiH1961 →3559 times
שְּׂחֹק֙a laughingstock
sechokH7814 →
לְכָל־to all
lekholH3605 →5413 times
עַמִּ֔יpeople my
ʾamiH5971 →1873 times
נְגִינָתָ֖םtaunt song their
neginatamH5058 →
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
הַיּֽוֹם׃the day
haiyomH3117 →2304 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 79:4We have become a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and derision to those around us.
it leads to
- Psalms 80:6
You make us contend with our neighbors; our enemies mock us.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 89:41
All who pass by plunder him; he has become a reproach to his neighbors.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 80:6
Through
Psalms 44:13You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, a mockery and derision to those around us.
it leads to
- Psalms 79:4
We have become a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and derision to those around us.
- Psalms 79:4
Through
Lamentations 3:63When they sit and when they rise, see how they mock me in song.
it leads to
- Psalms 139:2
You know when I sit and when I rise; You understand my thoughts from afar.
- Job 30:9
And now they mock me in song; I have become a byword among them.
- Psalms 139:2
Through
Jeremiah 20:7You have deceived me, O LORD, and I was deceived. You have overcome me and prevailed. I am a laughingstock all day long; everyone mocks me.
it leads to
- Hosea 9:7
The days of punishment have come; the days of retribution have arrived—let Israel know it. The prophet is called a fool, and the inspired man insane, because of the greatness of your iniquity and…
- Jeremiah 20:9
If I say, “I will not mention Him or speak any more in His name,” His message becomes a fire burning in my heart, shut up in my bones, and I become weary of…
- Ezekiel 3:14
So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness and in the anger of my spirit, with the strong hand of the LORD upon me.
- Hosea 9:7
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies17
On this verse
On this chapter
About Lamentations
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Lamentations.