💧WEB · Lamentations 3:4
What does Lamentations 3:4 mean?
"He has made my flesh and my skin old. He has broken my bones."
— Lamentations 3:4 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.
He has led me and caused me to walk in darkness, and not in light.
Surely he turns his hand against me again and again all day long.
He has made my flesh and my skin old. He has broken my bones.
He has built against me, and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
He has made me dwell in dark places, as those who have been long dead.
He has walled me about, so that I can’t go out. He has made my chain heavy.
Explanation
Lamentations 3:4 reads, "He has made my flesh and my skin old. He has broken my bones." In plain language, the speaker is describing the physical toll of deep suffering — his body feels prematurely aged, worn out, and even shattered, as though every part of him has been crushed by hardship. This is not a general complaint about aging but a vivid, poetic way of describing overwhelming affliction that has affected him body and soul.
The book of Lamentations was written in the aftermath of the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC, when the Babylonians destroyed the city and its temple and carried many of its people into exile. Tradition attributes the book to the prophet
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