Bible Strands
Lamentations 3:63
When they sit and when they rise, see how they mock me in song.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The speaker addresses God, describing the constant slander and murmuring of his assailants before pleading for divine retribution.
The words — The Hebrew terms שִׁבְתָּם (shivtām) and קִימָתָם (qiḥmātām) literally mean "their sitting" and "their rising," while הַבִּיטָה (haḇiṭāh) commands God to "look at" the speaker's status as a mocking song.
The thread — This motif of constant observation appears in Psalms 139:2, where God knows the speaker's sitting and rising, and recurs in Lamentations 3:14 and Job 30:9 as a description of public mockery.
Why it lands — The verse demands recognition that persecution operates through relentless, everyday scrutiny, requiring the reader to acknowledge suffering before expecting divine justice.
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
Behold their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their musick.
Cross-references
- Psalms 139:2 You know when I sit and when I rise; You understand my thoughts from afar.
- Lamentations 3:14 I am a laughingstock to all my people; they mock me in song all day long.
- Job 30:9 And now they mock me in song; I have become a byword among them.