Lamentations 3:27
What does Lamentations 3:27 mean?
A plain-English look at Lamentations 3:27 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Lamentations 3:27 means
He affirms it is good to carry the yoke in one’s youth—a metaphor for early discipline and submission to God’s training. Learning to submit when young prepares a person to endure later trials with steadiness and humility. The yoke is not cruelty but tutelage; it keeps one from pride and waywardness. The verse reframes suffering as a means of spiritual formation. Under Jehovah’s faithful care, burdens borne early can become blessings, shaping character that waits, seeks, and trusts. This wisdom counters any assumption that comfort is the chief good; holiness and steadfastness are the fruits of God’s good yoke.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
KJV
King James Version · 1611It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949It is good for a man to undergo the yoke when he is young.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862Good for a man that he beareth a yoke in his youth.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752Teth. It is good for a man, when he hath borne the yoke from his youth.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth:
Context
Expanding the call to quiet waiting, the text now praises early discipline. Verses 28–30 will describe the posture of one who bears the yoke: sitting alone, keeping silence, putting mouth in the dust, and accepting reproach. This focus on submissive endurance is anchored in the conviction soon restated (vv. 31–33) that God will not cast off forever, and that His compassion is abundant.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Matthew 11:29
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
- Hebrews 12:5
and ye have forgotten the exhortation which reasoneth with you as with sons, My son, regard not lightly the chastening of the Lord, Nor faint when thou art reproved of him;
- Ecclesiastes 12:1
Remember also thy Creator in the days of thy youth, before the evil days come, and the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;
- Psalms 119:71
It is good for me that I have been afflicted; That I may learn thy statutes.
- Psalms 90:12
So teach us to number our days, That we may get us a heart of wisdom.
- Psalms 94:12
Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Jehovah, And teachest out of thy law;
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