Bible Strands
Lamentations 3:4
He has worn away my flesh and skin; He has shattered my bones.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The speaker addresses God directly during a prolonged season of affliction, immediately after noting that God continually turns His hand against him day after day.
The words — The Hebrew verbs בִּלָּה (bi.Lah, “he has made to waste away”) and שִׁבֵּר (shi.Bar, “he has broken”) describe the systematic destruction of the speaker’s flesh, skin, and bones.
The thread — The text parallels the physical wasting and bone-breaking imagery found in Psalms 51:8 and Isaiah 38:13, while Psalms 31:9 extends the motif by linking bodily exhaustion with eyes failing from sorrow.
Why it lands — The passage requires the reader to acknowledge that the speaker’s physical ruin is directly attributed to God’s action, demanding an unflinching look at the severity of divine discipline.
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
My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones.
Cross-references
- Psalms 51:8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones You have crushed rejoice.
- Isaiah 38:13 I composed myself until the morning. Like a lion He breaks all my bones; from day until night You make an end of me.
- Psalms 31:9 Be merciful to me, O LORD, for I am in distress; my eyes fail from sorrow, my soul and body as well.
- Psalms 38:2 For Your arrows have pierced me deeply, and Your hand has pressed down on me.
- 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.”
- Psalms 102:3 For my days vanish like smoke, and my bones burn like glowing embers.
- Job 16:8 You have bound me, and it has become a witness; my frailty rises up and testifies against me.
- Psalms 22:14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are disjointed. My heart is like wax; it melts away within me.
- Psalms 32:3 When I kept silent, my bones became brittle from my groaning all day long.