Lamentations 3:4
in Lamentations 3He has worn away my flesh and skin; He has shattered my bones.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones.
KJV
My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones.
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This verse in Lamentations 3
Commentary
6 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Made old - Or, wasted: his strength slowly wasted as he pined away in sorrow. He hath broken my bones - This clause completes the representation of the sufferer’s physical agonies. Here the idea is that of acute pain.
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”.
This site's exposition
He has worn away
With the second triplet the flesh and bones of the man carry the wrath of God. Albert Barnes reads worn away as strength slowly wasted in grief, and shattered bones as sharp pain. Matthew Henry pictured a man about to die.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Here is viewed the effect of divine blows. It is like a livid spot on a person's body, the effect from a rod inflicting blows. First is the weakening of powers of an entire people. For: "He has made my flesh": by which people eternally …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
): " My flesh and my skin has he made old; they are wasted and withered, and I look like one that is ready to drop into the grave; nay, he has broken my bones, and so disabled me to help myself,
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens+odd-straight-quotes
My flesh and my skin hath he made old,....
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בִּלָּ֤ה | bilah | he has made to waste away | H1086 → | |
| בְשָׂרִי֙ | vesari | flesh my | H1320 → | |
| וְעוֹרִ֔י | veori | and skin my | H5785 → | 99 times |
| שִׁבַּ֖ר | shibar | he has broken | H7665 → | 147 times |
| עַצְמוֹתָֽי׃ | atzmotai | bones my | H6106 → | 126 times |
בִּלָּ֤הhe has made to waste away
bilahH1086 →
בְשָׂרִי֙flesh my
vesariH1320 →
וְעוֹרִ֔יand skin my
veoriH5785 →99 times
שִׁבַּ֖רhe has broken
shibarH7665 →147 times
עַצְמוֹתָֽי׃bones my
atzmotaiH6106 →126 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 51:8Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones You have crushed rejoice.
it leads to
- Matthew 5:4
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
- Job 5:17–18
Blessed indeed is the man whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.
- Hosea 6:1–2
Come, 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.
- Psalms 6:2–3
Be merciful to me, O LORD, for I am frail; heal me, O LORD, for my bones are in agony.
- Psalms 119:81–82
My soul faints for Your salvation; I wait for Your word.
- Matthew 5:4
Through
Jeremiah 50:17Israel is a scattered flock, chased away by lions. The first to devour him was the king of Assyria; the last to crush his bones was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.”
it leads to
- Jeremiah 2:15
The young lions have roared at him; they have growled with a loud voice. They have laid waste his land; his cities lie in ruins, without inhabitant.
- Jeremiah 2:15
Through
Isaiah 38:13I composed myself until the morning. Like a lion He breaks all my bones; from day until night You make an end of me.
it leads to
- Daniel 6:24
At the command of the king, the men who had falsely accused Daniel were brought and thrown into the den of lions—they and their children and wives. And before they had reached the bottom…
- Psalms 51:8
Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones You have crushed rejoice.
- Daniel 6:24
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); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Lamentations.