Bible Strands
Lamentations 3:1
I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of God’s wrath.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The speaker identifies himself as a man witnessing affliction delivered by God's rod. He addresses listeners within a recorded lament without specifying their identity or location.
The words — The Hebrew noun עֳנִי ('o.Ni) literally means affliction, denoting the suffering the speaker has observed. The prepositional phrase בְּ/שֵׁ֖בֶט עֶבְרָתֽ/וֹ (be./She.vet ev.ra.T/o) translates to "under the rod of his fury," specifying both the instrument and the source of that suffering.
The thread — The motif of divine wrath inflicting heavy suffering runs through Psalms 88:7 and Psalms 88:15, where the psalmist describes waves and terrors weighing upon him. Job 19:21 similarly records a speaker noting that the hand of God has struck him, linking personal affliction to direct divine action.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to acknowledge that the speaker's suffering originates from God's wrath rather than random circumstance. It demands recognition of divine sovereignty over human pain without providing immediate explanation or relief.
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
King James Version
I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.
Cross-references
- Psalms 88:7 Your wrath weighs heavily upon me; all Your waves have submerged me. Selah
- Job 19:21 Have pity on me, my friends, have pity, for the hand of God has struck me.
- Psalms 88:15 From my youth I was afflicted and near death. I have borne Your terrors; I am in despair.
- Psalms 71:20 Though You have shown me many troubles and misfortunes, You will revive me once again. Even from the depths of the earth You will bring me back up.
- Isaiah 53:3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.
- Jeremiah 15:17 I never sat with the band of revelers, nor did I celebrate with them. Because Your hand was on me, I sat alone, for You have filled me with indignation.
- Jeremiah 20:14 Cursed be the day I was born! May the day my mother bore me never be blessed.
- Jeremiah 38:6 So 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 water but only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud.
- Lamentations 1:12 Is this nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look around and see! Is there any sorrow like mine, which was inflicted on me, which the LORD made me suffer on the day of His fierce anger?