Lamentations 1:13
What does Lamentations 1:13 mean?
A plain-English look at Lamentations 1:13 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Lamentations 1:13 means
The images turn inward and relentless: fire from on high burns into the bones, a net ensnares the feet, and forced retreat leaves the soul desolate and faint. These metaphors communicate judgment’s penetration and inescapability. It is not only walls and gates destroyed; the very vitality of the people is consumed. The “fire” evokes consuming holiness; the “net” speaks of being captured under God’s hand; the turning back shows defeat and loss of courage. The verse portrays a suffering that God has authored for discipline, not a random accident. The result is a daylong exhaustion, an unremitting weariness that matches the totality of the city’s fall.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000From on high hath he sent fire into my bones, and it prevaileth against them; He hath spread a net for my feet, he hath turned me back: He hath made me desolate and faint all the day.
KJV
King James Version · 1611From above hath he sent fire into my bones, and it prevaileth against them: he hath spread a net for my feet, he hath turned me back: he hath made me desolate and faint all the day.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901From on high hath he sent fire into my bones, and it prevaileth against them; He hath spread a net for my feet, he hath turned me back: He hath made me desolate and faint all the day.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949From on high he has sent fire into my bones, and it has overcome them: his net is stretched out for my feet, I am turned back by him; he has made me waste and feeble all the day.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862From above He hath sent fire into my bone, And it subdueth it, He hath spread a net for my feet, He hath turned me backward, He hath made me desolate--all the day sick.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752Mem. From above he hath sent fire into my bones, and hath chastised me: he hath spread a net for my feet, he hath turned me back: he hath made me desolate, wasted with sorrow all the day long.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890From on high hath he sent fire into my bones, and it prevaileth against them; he hath spread a net for my feet; he hath turned me back; he hath made me desolate [and] faint all the day.
Context
After inviting passersby to witness her sorrow (verse 12), the lament offers an inside view of that sorrow (verse 13). The focus is now the spiritual and physical experience of God’s judgment. This prepares for verse 14’s deeper acknowledgment that her own transgressions are the yoke God has bound upon her, leading to helplessness before enemies. The sequence continues to move from metaphor to confession, from image to meaning, drawing the reader to see that the ruin is both deserved and devastating—truths that set the stage for later appeals to God’s righteousness and mercy (verses 18–22).
v.12Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is brought upon me, Wherewith Jehovah hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.
v.13This passage
v.14The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand; They are knit together, they are come up upon my neck; he hath made my strength to fail: The Lord hath delivered me into their hands, against whom I am not able to stand.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- 2 Thessalonians 1:8
rendering vengeance to them that know not God, and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus:
- Deuteronomy 28:65
And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, and there shall be no rest for the sole of thy foot: but Jehovah will give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and pining of soul;
- Hosea 7:12
When they shall go, I will spread my net upon them; I will bring them down as the birds of the heavens; I will chastise them, as their congregation hath heard.
- Job 19:6
Know now that God hath subverted me in my cause, And hath compassed me with his net.
- Psalms 22:14
I am poured out like water, And all my bones are out of joint: My heart is like wax; It is melted within me.
- Ezekiel 12:13
My net also will I spread upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare; and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there.
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