Bible Strands
Lamentations 3:33
For He does not willingly afflict or grieve the sons of men.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God addresses the exiled community of Judah amid the immediate aftermath of Jerusalem's destruction, responding to their cry of despair in the preceding verses.
The words — The Hebrew מִלִּבּוֹ (milibo), meaning "from his heart," qualifies the verbs עִנָּה ('innah, "afflict") and וַיַּגֶּה (vayyaggeh, "grieve") to state that divine discipline is not a spontaneous or desired impulse.
The thread — This explicit denial of divine pleasure in human suffering appears in Ezekiel 33:11 and Ezekiel 18:32, while Hebrews 12:9 parallels the concept by linking God's corrective action to the submission owed to earthly fathers.
Why it lands — The verse demands that the reader separate the factual reality of inflicted grief from the assumption that God takes pleasure in it, requiring a response of disciplined endurance rather than theological resignation.
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
For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.
Cross-references
- Ezekiel 33:11 Say to them: ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked should turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’
- Ezekiel 18:32 For I take no pleasure in anyone’s death, declares the Lord GOD. So repent and live!
- Hebrews 12:9 Furthermore, we have all had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Should we not much more submit to the Father of our spirits and live?
- Isaiah 28:21 For the LORD will rise up as at Mount Perazim. He will rouse Himself as in the Valley of Gibeon, to do His work, His strange work, and to perform His task, His disturbing task.