Bible Strands
Lamentations 3:8
Even when I cry out and plead for help, He shuts out my prayer.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The speaker addresses God during a period of acute distress, positioned between descriptions of being walled in and having paths deliberately obstructed.
The words — שָׂתַם (sa.Tam) means he has shut out, and תְּפִלָּתִי (te.fi.la.T/i) means my prayer.
The thread — The motif of unresponded cries for divine intervention appears in Job 30:20, Psalms 22:2, and Job 19:7.
Why it lands — The text records divine silence following desperate pleas, requiring the reader to confront unmet petitions without assuming immediate resolution.
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
Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer.
Cross-references
- Job 30:20 I cry out to You for help, but You do not answer; when I stand up, You merely look at me.
- Psalms 22:2 I cry out by day, O my God, but You do not answer, and by night, but I have no rest.
- Job 19:7 Though I cry out, ‘Violence!’ I get no response; though I call for help, there is no justice.
- Lamentations 3:44 You have covered Yourself with a cloud that no prayer can pass through.
- Matthew 27:46 About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
- Habakkuk 1:2 How long, O LORD, must I call for help but You do not hear, or cry out to You, “Violence!” but You do not save?
- Psalms 80:4 O LORD God of Hosts, how long will Your anger smolder against the prayers of Your people?