Bible Strands
Lamentations 3:16
He has ground my teeth with gravel and trampled me in the dust.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The speaker is the afflicted individual in Lamentations 3 describing his experience of divine judgment during a time of national destruction and personal despair. He addresses God directly while detailing the physical and spiritual degradation he endures.
The words — The Hebrew verb יִגְרֵס (yigres) translates literally to "he has broken" or "ground," applied here to teeth, while אֵפֶר (efer) means "ashes" or "dust." These terms emphasize total humiliation and subjugation under heavy force.
The thread — This imagery of gravel and ashes appears in Proverbs 20:17 regarding the consequences of deceit and in Jeremiah 6:26 as a call to mourn in sackcloth and ashes. Psalm 3:7 contrasts this by depicting God as the one who breaks the teeth of the wicked.
Why it lands — The text states that divine action can reduce a person to a state of utter powerlessness and sensory deprivation before any theological conclusion is drawn. It requires the reader to acknowledge suffering as a concrete reality rather than a metaphor for spiritual growth.
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
He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with ashes.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 20:17 Food gained by fraud is sweet to a man, but later his mouth is full of gravel.
- Jeremiah 6:26 O daughter of my people, dress yourselves in sackcloth and roll in ashes. Mourn with bitter wailing, as you would for an only son, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.
- Psalms 3:7 Arise, O LORD! Save me, O my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked.
- Psalms 58:6 O God, shatter their teeth in their mouths; O LORD, tear out the fangs of the lions.
- Job 2:8 And Job took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself as he sat among the ashes.
- Job 4:10 The lion may roar, and the fierce lion may growl, yet the teeth of the young lions are broken.
- Psalms 102:9 For I have eaten ashes like bread and mixed my drink with tears
- Jonah 3:6 When word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
- Matthew 7:9 Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?
- Luke 11:11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead?