Bible Strands
Lamentations 3:34
To crush underfoot all the prisoners of the land,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The narrator describes God’s actions to the mourning community of Judah following Jerusalem’s fall. The verse appears in a sequence detailing what the Lord does not do or allow.
The words — The Hebrew root דָּכֵא (da.Ke') means to crush, paired with תַּחַת רַגְלָיו (ta.chat rag.lav), literally "under his feet." This phrase describes the subjugation of כָּל אֲסִירֵי אָרֶץ (kol 'a.si.rei 'a.retz), "all the prisoners of the land."
The thread — This imagery of crushing prisoners appears in the surrounding context of divine judgment and deliverance. Cross-references link it to God’s covenant release of captives in Zechariah 9:11, the removal of judgment’s cup in Isaiah 51:22, and the Lord’s attention to captive people in Psalms 69:33.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that human suffering and imprisonment occur under sovereign allowance, not divine pleasure. It requires the reader to separate the reality of oppression from the character of God.
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
To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth,
Cross-references
- Zechariah 9:11 As for you, because of the blood of My covenant, I will release your prisoners from the waterless pit.
- Isaiah 51:22 Thus says your Lord, the LORD, even your God, who defends His people: “See, I have removed from your hand the cup of staggering. From that goblet, the cup of My fury, you will never drink again.
- Psalms 69:33 For the LORD listens to the needy and does not despise His captive people.
- Psalms 102:20 to hear a prisoner’s groaning, to release those condemned to death,
- Isaiah 49:9 to say to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’ They will feed along the pathways, and find pasture on every barren hill.
- Jeremiah 51:33 For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “The Daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time it is trampled. In just a little while her harvest time will come.”
- Psalms 79:11 May the groans of the captives reach You; by the strength of Your arm preserve those condemned to death.
- Isaiah 14:17 who turned the world into a desert and destroyed its cities, who refused to let the captives return to their homes?”
- Jeremiah 50:17 Israel is a scattered flock, chased away by lions. The first to devour him was the king of Assyria; the last to crush his bones was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.”
- Jeremiah 50:33 This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “The sons of Israel are oppressed, and the sons of Judah as well. All their captors hold them fast, refusing to release them.