Lamentations 3:7
in Lamentations 3He has walled me in so I cannot escape; He has weighed me down with chains.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
He hath walled me about, that I cannot go forth; he hath made my chain heavy.
KJV
He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy.
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This verse in Lamentations 3
Commentary
6 notes on this verseHe hath hedged me about, that I cannot go out,.... When in prison, or in the dungeon, or during the siege of Jerusalem; though the phrase may only denote in general the greatness of his troubles, with which he was encompassed, and how inextricable they were; like a hedge about a vineyard, or a wall about a city, which could not easily be got over: he hath made my chain heavy; his affliction intolerable.
This site's exposition
He has walled me in so I cannot escape
on Lamentations 3:7-9
Affliction is pictured as a prison: “He has walled me in so I cannot escape; He has weighed me down with chains”. The last line takes away direction as well as escape: “He has barred my ways with cut stones; He has made my paths crooked”.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
A remedy for an escape from enemies' siege is cut off. "He has walled me about so that I cannot escape." That is, by the besieging army. "He has put heavy chains on me." This indicates that I (Jeremiah) am besieged just like those persons …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
He has hedged me about, that I cannot get out. " When Jerusalem was besieged it was said to be compassed in on every side, Luke xix. "I am chained; and as some notorious malefactors are double-fettered, and loaded with irons, so he has made my chain heavy.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
He hath hedged me about - This also may refer to the lines drawn round the city during the siege. But these and similar expressions in the following verses may be merely metaphorical, to point out their straitened, oppressed, and distressed state.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The prophet feels as if enclosed within walls, and fettered.
The words behind it
6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| גָּדַ֧ר | gadar | he has walled up | H1443 → | |
| בַּעֲדִ֛י | baadi | behind me | H1157 → | |
| וְלֹ֥א | velo' | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| אֵצֵ֖א | ʾetze' | I will go out | H3318 → | 1067 times |
| הִכְבִּ֥יד | hikhbid | he has made heavy | H3513 → | |
| נְחָשְׁתִּֽי׃ | nechasheti | bronze fetter[s] my | H5178 → |
גָּדַ֧רhe has walled up
gadarH1443 →
בַּעֲדִ֛יbehind me
baadiH1157 →
וְלֹ֥אand not
velo'H3808 →5168 times
אֵצֵ֖אI will go out
ʾetze'H3318 →1067 times
הִכְבִּ֥ידhe has made heavy
hikhbidH3513 →
נְחָשְׁתִּֽי׃bronze fetter[s] my
nechashetiH5178 →
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
Job 19:8He has blocked my way so I cannot pass; He has veiled my paths with darkness.
it leads to
- Hosea 2:6
Therefore, behold, I will hedge up her path with thorns; I will enclose her with a wall, so she cannot find her way.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Job 3:23
Why is life given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?
- Proverbs 4:19
But the way of the wicked is like the darkest gloom; they do not know what makes them stumble.
- Psalms 88:8
You have removed my friends from me; You have made me repulsive to them; I am confined and cannot escape.
- Lamentations 3:9
He has barred my ways with cut stones; He has made my paths crooked.
- Hosea 2:6
Through
Job 3:23Why is life given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?
it leads to
- Job 19:8
He has blocked my way so I cannot pass; He has veiled my paths with darkness.
- Job 19:8
Through
Psalms 88:8You have removed my friends from me; You have made me repulsive to them; I am confined and cannot escape.
it leads to
- Psalms 31:11
Among all my enemies I am a disgrace, and among my neighbors even more. I am dreaded by my friends— they flee when they see me on the street.
- Psalms 31:11
Through
Jeremiah 38:6So they took Jeremiah and dropped him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king’s son, which was in the courtyard of the guard. They lowered Jeremiah with ropes into the cistern, which had no…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 37:21
So King Zedekiah gave orders for Jeremiah to be placed in the courtyard of the guard and given a loaf of bread daily from the street of the bakers, until all the bread in…
- Jeremiah 37:21
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies17
On this verse
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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); Carl Friedrich Keil, Lamentations; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Lamentations.