Bible Strands
Lamentations 3:30
Let him offer his cheek to the one who would strike him; let him be filled with reproach.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The speaker addresses the exiled community of Judah, prescribing the posture of submission required of the suffering righteous.
The words — The Hebrew יִתֵּן (yi.Ten) means "let him give" and לֶ֖חִי (Le.chi) means "a cheek," while יִשְׂבַּע (yis.Ba') literally means "let him be sated."
The thread — This posture of submission appears in Job 16:10, where enemies strike cheeks with contempt, and Isaiah 50:6, where the servant offers his back to strikers and his cheeks to those who tear out his beard. Matthew 5:39 later expands the principle by commanding nonresistance to an evil person.
Why it lands — The text commands the sufferer to accept physical violence and verbal abuse without retaliation. It asks the reader to adopt a posture of unresisting endurance while awaiting divine vindication.
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 giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him: he is filled full with reproach.
Cross-references
- Job 16:10 They open their mouths against me and strike my cheeks with contempt; they join together against me.
- Isaiah 50:6 I offered My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who tore out My beard. I did not hide My face from scorn and spittle.
- Matthew 5:39 But I tell you not to resist an evil person. If someone slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also;
- Matthew 26:67 Then they spit in His face and struck Him. Others slapped Him
- 2 Corinthians 11:20 In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or exalts himself or strikes you in the face.
- Psalms 69:20 Insults have broken my heart, and I am in despair. I looked for sympathy, but there was none, for comforters, but I found no one.
- Psalms 123:3 Have mercy on us, O LORD, have mercy, for we have endured much contempt.
- Micah 5:1 Now, O daughter of troops, mobilize your troops; for a siege is laid against us! With a rod they will strike the cheek of the judge of Israel.
- Luke 6:29 If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone takes your cloak, do not withhold your tunic as well.
- Psalms 69:9 because zeal for Your house has consumed me, and the insults of those who insult You have fallen on me.