Lamentations 1:22
What does Lamentations 1:22 mean?
A plain-English look at Lamentations 1:22 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Lamentations 1:22 means
The lament ends with an imprecation: “Let all their wickedness come before thee; and do unto them, as thou hast done unto me for all my transgressions.” This is not self-righteousness. It asks for equity: if God judged Jerusalem’s sins, let him also address her enemies’ cruelty and gloating. The prayer entrusts vengeance to God, the righteous judge, while admitting ongoing weakness—“my sighs are many, and my heart is faint.” It is a weary faith, not a vengeful rant. The city’s closing words leave the matter in God’s hands, acknowledging that justice belongs to him and that only his attention can lift a fainting heart.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000Let all their wickedness come before thee; And do unto them, as thou hast done unto me for all my transgressions: For my sighs are many, and my heart is faint.
KJV
King James Version · 1611Let all their wickedness come before thee; and do unto them, as thou hast done unto me for all my transgressions: for my sighs are many, and my heart is faint.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901Let all their wickedness come before thee; And do unto them, as thou hast done unto me for all my transgressions: For my sighs are many, and my heart is faint.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949Let all their evil-doing come before you; do to them as you have done to me for all my sins: for loud is the sound of my grief, and the strength of my heart is gone.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862Come in doth all their evil before Thee, And one is doing to them as Thou hast done to me, For all my transgressions, For many <FI>are<Fi> my sighs, and my heart <FI>is<Fi> sick!
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752Thau. Let all their evil be present before thee: and make vintage of them, as thou hast made vintage of me for all my iniquities: for my sighs are many, and my heart is sorrowful.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890Let all their wickedness come before thee; and do unto them, as thou hast done unto me for all my transgressions: for my sighs are many, and my heart is faint.
Context
Verse 22 concludes the chapter by appealing for just recompense on the enemies, mirroring the judgment Jerusalem has borne for her own transgressions. This prayer follows a full arc: from desolation and betrayal (verses 1–3), through worship’s collapse (verse 4), to confession of sin and acknowledgment of God’s righteous affliction (verses 5, 8, 18). The chapter ends without resolution, intentionally, leaving readers in the tension of grief and faith. It prepares for the continued laments and hopes of the book, where God’s steadfast character will be remembered even amid ongoing sorrow.
v.21They have heard that I sigh; there is none to comfort me; All mine enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that thou hast done it: Thou wilt bring the day that thou hast proclaimed, and they shall be like unto me.
v.22This passage
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Jeremiah 8:18
Oh that I could comfort myself against sorrow! my heart is faint within me.
- Nehemiah 4:4
Hear, O our God; for we are despised: and turn back their reproach upon their own head, and give them up for a spoil in a land of captivity;
- Lamentations 1:13
From 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.
- Revelation 6:10
and they cried with a great voice, saying, How long, O Master, the holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
- Jeremiah 51:35
The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the inhabitant of Zion say; and, My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say.
- Jeremiah 18:23
Yet, Jehovah, thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me; forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight; but let them be overthrown before thee; deal thou with them in the time of thine anger.
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