Lamentations 1:20

See, O LORD, how distressed I am! I am churning within; my heart is pounding within me, for I have been most rebellious. Outside, the sword bereaves; inside, there is death.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The speaker, addressing Yahweh directly, describes immediate physical and emotional collapse following the betrayal of former allies and the starvation death of priests and elders.

The words — The Hebrew רְאֵה (re'eh) means "see" and יְהוָה (Yahweh) names God, framing the verse as a direct appeal for divine attention. The terms חֳמַרְמָרוּ (cho mar maru) and נֶהְפַּךְ (nehpak) describe inner turmoil and an overturned heart, capturing the speaker's psychological disintegration.

The thread — The contrast between external violence and internal devastation appears in Ezekiel 7:15 and Deuteronomy 32:25, while the internal churning mirrors the grief recorded in Lamentations 2:11.

Why it lands — The text explicitly links the speaker's suffering to personal rebellion and describes an environment where the sword operates externally and death operates internally. It requires the reader to acknowledge that divine judgment proceeds without human intervention or comfort.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

רְאֵ֨הre.'Ehsee יְהוָ֤הYah.wehO Yahweh כִּֽי־ki-for צַר־tzar-distressלִי֙l/i[belongs] to/ meמֵעַ֣יme.'A/iinward parts/ my חֳמַרְמָ֔רוּcho.mar.Ma.ruthey are in turmoil נֶהְפַּ֤ךְneh.Pakhit has been overturned לִבִּי֙li.B/iheart/ my בְּקִרְבִּ֔יbe./kir.B/iin/ inner being/ my כִּ֥יkifor מָר֖וֹma.Roextremely <be rebellious>מָרִ֑יתִיma.Ri.tiI have been rebellious מִח֥וּץmi./Chutzfrom/ outside שִׁכְּלָה־shi.ke.lah-it has bereaved חֶ֖רֶבChe.reva sword בַּבַּ֥יִתba./Ba.yit[is] in the/ house כַּמָּֽוֶת׃ סka./Ma.vetlike <the>/ death

King James Version

Behold, O Lord; for I am in distress: my bowels are troubled; mine heart is turned within me; for I have grievously rebelled: abroad the sword bereaveth, at home there is as death.

Cross-references

Lamentations 2:11 My eyes fail from weeping; I am churning within. My heart is poured out in grief over the destruction of the daughter of my people, because children and infants faint in the streets of the city.
Ezekiel 7:15 The sword is outside; plague and famine are within. Those in the country will die by the sword, and those in the city will be devoured by famine and plague.
Deuteronomy 32:25 Outside, the sword will take their children, and inside, terror will strike the young man and the young woman, the infant and the gray-haired man.
Proverbs 28:13 He who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy.
Isaiah 16:11 Therefore my heart laments for Moab like a harp, my inmost being for Kir-heres.
Job 30:27 I am churning within and cannot rest; days of affliction confront me.
Jeremiah 4:19 My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh, the pain in my chest! My heart pounds within me; I cannot be silent. For I have heard the sound of the horn, the alarm of battle.
Leviticus 26:40 But if they will confess their iniquity and that of their fathers in the unfaithfulness that they practiced against Me, by which they have also walked in hostility toward Me—
1 Kings 8:47 and when they come to their senses in the land to which they were taken, and they repent and plead with You in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned and done wrong; we have acted wickedly,’
Job 33:27 Then he sings before men with these words: ‘I have sinned and perverted what was right; yet I did not get what I deserved.