Lamentations 3:16 kjv
He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with ashes.
Lamentations 3:16 nkjv
He has also broken my teeth with gravel, And covered me with ashes.
Lamentations 3:16 niv
He has broken my teeth with gravel; he has trampled me in the dust.
Lamentations 3:16 esv
He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes;
Lamentations 3:16 nlt
He has made me chew on gravel.
He has rolled me in the dust.
Lamentations 3 16 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Lamentations 3:16 | He has made my teeth grind on gravel; he has covered me with ashes. | The Suffering of God's People |
| Psalm 119:83 | Though I am like a wineskin dried up by smoke, I do not forget your statutes. | Near complete physical breakdown |
| Job 2:12 | When Eliphaz saw this, Bildad and Zophar, Job's three friends, sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. | Expression of intense sorrow |
| Psalm 42:3 | My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all day long, "Where is your God?" | Deep emotional distress |
| Isaiah 30:14 | And he will break it as a potter's vessel is broken, beyond repair, so that there will not be found in its fragments so much as a shard with which to scoop water from the fireplace or to bail out of the cistern. | Complete ruin |
| Psalm 22:15 | My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and the language of my[a] enemy you[b] know. | Physical and emotional depletion |
| Lamentations 1:1 | How lonely sits the city that was full of people! She has become like a widow. | City's desolation |
| Lamentations 2:10 | The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground in silence; they have cast dust on their heads and bound themselves with sackcloth; the virgins of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground. | Expressions of mourning |
| Lamentations 4:1-2 | How has the gold lost its luster! The finest gold has become dull! The sacred stones have been scattered at the head of every street. The precious sons of Zion, worth their weight in fine gold, how they are reckoned as earthen pots, the work of a potter's hands! | Depreciated value of people |
| Jeremiah 14:1-2 | The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought... Judah mourns... its gates lament... they cry out from the ground. | National distress |
| Jeremiah 51:64 | and you shall say, "'Truth, O Lord, are all your ways a great and terrible God. Babylon will not arise again, and she will be broken at the roots and be no more, and her filthiness will not be stirred again.' " | Finality of judgment |
| Lamentations 3:19-20 | Remember my affliction and my bitterness, the wormwood and the gall! My soul continually remembers and bows down within me. | Recounting suffering |
| Psalm 88:8 | My eyes grow dim from affliction. Lord, I call upon you daily; I spread out my hands to you. | Personal suffering |
| Psalm 37:2 | For they will soon be cut down like the grass and wither like the green herb. | Transience of wicked |
| Job 7:4 | When I lie down I say, 'When will it be day?' But when dawn comes I say, 'When will the evening come?' A longing for the day, a longing for the night. | Weariness of life |
| Genesis 1:2 | The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. | State of formlessness |
| Lamentations 1:4 | Her paths mourn because no one comes to the appointed feasts. All her gates are desolate; her priests groan; her virgins have sorrow. | Desolation of sacred places |
| Lamentations 5:18 | Mount Zion, which lies desolate; foxes have gone over it. | Utter destruction |
| Isaiah 63:3 | "I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with me; I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my fury; their lifeblood spattered on my garments, all my apparel I stained. | God's judgment described |
| Lamentations 2:2 | How the Lord in his anger has set aside the daughter of Zion! He has thrown down from heaven to earth the splendor of Israel; he has not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger. | God's anger and its effect |
Lamentations 3 verses
Lamentations 3 16 Meaning
This verse from Lamentations expresses a profound sense of suffering and affliction. The prophet's soul is overwhelmed by extreme hardship, leading to a state of desolation and distress. The verse conveys a deep personal experience of anguish and isolation due to severe trials.
Lamentations 3 16 Context
This verse is found within the third chapter of Lamentations, a book that poignantly expresses grief over the destruction of Jerusalem and the Babylonian exile. The prophet, identified with Jeremiah, is personally experiencing and articulating the profound suffering of his people. The entire book reflects on the consequences of sin and God's judgment, but it is also a testament to enduring hope in God's faithfulness. This specific verse comes after declarations of God's past kindness and present wrath, painting a vivid picture of the severity of the affliction.
Lamentations 3 16 Word analysis
- He: (Hebrew: הוּא, hu) refers to God. The singular pronoun emphasizes God as the direct source of the prophet's suffering, either through active intervention or by permitting it.
- has made: (Hebrew: עָשָׂה, asah) indicates a doing or bringing into being. Here, it signifies God's volitional action in causing the prophet's condition.
- my teeth: (Hebrew: שִׁנַּי, shinay) is the plural form of "tooth." This is a part of the body directly involved in consuming food.
- grind: (Hebrew: הִלְחִם, hilchim) is a Hiphil infinitive, meaning "to cause to fight" or "to cause to gnash." It implies a forceful, involuntary grinding of teeth.
- on gravel: (Hebrew: חָצָץ, chatsats) refers to gravel, small stones, or pebbles. Ingesting or grinding teeth on gravel signifies a harsh, gritty, and unpleasant experience, symbolizing distress and suffering that are physical and pervasive. It is akin to a painful, unwelcome ingestion.
- he: (Hebrew: הוּא, hu) again refers to God, continuing the focus on divine agency.
- has covered: (Hebrew: כָּסָה, kasah) means to cover, conceal, or overwhelm. It suggests an enveloping action.
- me: (Hebrew: אֹתִ֫י, oti) the direct object pronoun.
- with ashes: (Hebrew: עָפָר, aphar) meaning dust or ashes. In ancient Near Eastern culture, covering oneself with dust or ashes was a profound sign of mourning, repentance, humiliation, and distress. It symbolized a reduction to a low and insignificant state, bordering on death. This imagery aligns with the overall theme of profound sorrow and the stripping away of honor and comfort.
Lamentations 3 16 Bonus section
The grinding of teeth on gravel evokes a sensory experience that conveys the bitter and difficult reality of God's discipline or judgment. It's not just an external punishment but an internal distress that affects one's very being. The act of covering oneself with ashes is a physical manifestation of deep grief and contrition, a universal symbol of recognizing one's low estate and the overwhelming sorrow of loss. This verse highlights how God, while sovereign, can allow His people to pass through periods of intense hardship, which, though painful, can lead to deeper understanding and reliance on Him, as seen in the broader context of Lamentations and other prophetic writings where discipline leads to refinement.
Lamentations 3 16 Commentary
Lamentations 3:16 vividly portrays the depth of suffering experienced by the prophet. The imagery of teeth grinding on gravel suggests an excruciating internal turmoil and physical agony. This is not a mild discomfort but a violent, grinding force, reflecting an overwhelming distress that affects even basic bodily functions. The metaphor points to a sensation of being ground down, with the gritty, abrasive nature of gravel signifying the unpleasantness and pain of the affliction.
The second part, "he has covered me with ashes," amplifies this. Ashes are symbolic of deep mourning, utter desolation, and disgrace. To be "covered with ashes" means to be entombed in a state of sorrow, having lost all comfort, dignity, and hope. It represents a complete envelopment in the aftermath of destruction or a profound act of penance. In the context of the entire book, this refers to the devastation of Jerusalem, where the people were stripped of their city, their temple, and their dignity, essentially being covered by the "ashes" of their destroyed nation and personal ruin. Both images are powerful sensory depictions of profound suffering, with God portrayed as the agent allowing or orchestrating this immense hardship.