Lamentations 3:37
in Lamentations 3Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?
KJV
Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?
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This verse in Lamentations 3
Commentary
5 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Why then does a loving God, who disapproves of suffering when inflicted by man upon man, Himself send sorrow and misery? “Because of sins.” Lam 3:37 Literally, “Who is this that spake and it was done, though אדני 'ădonāy commanded it not?” Lam 3:39 So long as God spares a man’s life, why does he complain? The chastisement is really for his good; only let him use it aright, and he will be thankful for it in the end.
This site's exposition
Who has spoken and it came to pass
on Lamentations 3:37-39
Verse 38 traces calamity and blessing to one source, “adversity and good”, the Hebrew pair of evil and good the Law set in Deuteronomy 30:15. Verse 39 answers complaint from the same ground: “Why should any mortal man complain, in view of his sins?”
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Here arguments are proposed from divine powers by which everything is governed and provided for. First, such is applied against those persons who derogate divine providence, faithless through blasphemy. "Who has commanded and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it?" Within this …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass?....
That, whatever men's lot is, it is God that orders it: Out of the mouth of the Most High do not evil and good proceed? Yes, certainly they do; and it is more emphatically expressed in the original: Do not this evil, and this good, proceed out of the mouth of the Most High?
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מִ֣י | mi | who? | H4310 → | 423 times |
| זֶ֤ה | zeh | this | H2088 → | 1180 times |
| אָמַר֙ | ʾamar | has he spoken | H559 → | 5305 times |
| וַתֶּ֔הִי | vatehi | and it was | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| אֲדֹנָ֖י | ʾadonai | [the] Lord | H136 → | 440 times |
| לֹ֥א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| צִוָּֽה׃ | tzivah | he commanded [it] | H6680 → | 494 times |
מִ֣יwho?
miH4310 →423 times
זֶ֤הthis
zehH2088 →1180 times
אָמַר֙has he spoken
ʾamarH559 →5305 times
וַתֶּ֔הִיand it was
vatehiH1961 →3559 times
אֲדֹנָ֖י[the] Lord
ʾadonaiH136 →440 times
לֹ֥אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
צִוָּֽה׃he commanded [it]
tzivahH6680 →494 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
Proverbs 16:9A man’s heart plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.
it leads to
- Proverbs 19:21
Many plans are in a man’s heart, but the purpose of the LORD will prevail.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 16:1
The plans of the heart belong to man, but the reply of the tongue is from the LORD.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 37:23
The steps of a man are ordered by the LORD who takes delight in his journey.
- Proverbs 20:24
A man’s steps are from the LORD, so how can anyone understand his own way?
- Jeremiah 10:23
I know, O LORD, that a man’s way is not his own; no one who walks directs his own steps.
- Proverbs 19:21
Through
Proverbs 19:21Many plans are in a man’s heart, but the purpose of the LORD will prevail.
it leads to
- Proverbs 16:9
A man’s heart plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.
- Isaiah 14:24
The LORD of Hosts has sworn: “Surely, as I have planned, so will it be; as I have purposed, so will it stand.
- Psalms 33:10–11
The LORD frustrates the plans of the nations; He thwarts the devices of the peoples.
- Proverbs 16:9
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies17
On this verse
On 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; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Lamentations.