Lamentations 3:28
What does Lamentations 3:28 mean?
A plain-English look at Lamentations 3:28 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Lamentations 3:28 means
The yoke-bearing person is urged to sit alone and be silent, because Jehovah has laid the burden. Solitude and silence here are not isolation for its own sake, but attentiveness and submission. By quieting the tongue and withdrawing from distractions, one receives God’s instruction rather than resisting it. Acknowledging that God has placed the yoke turns complaint into humble acceptance. This verse invites a posture that trusts God’s purposes even when they are painful, creating space for repentance, reflection, and renewed dependence on Him who disciplines in love and knows the right time to relieve the burden.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000Let him sit alone and keep silence, because he hath laid it upon him.
KJV
King James Version · 1611He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901Let him sit alone and keep silence, because he hath laid it upon him.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949Let him be seated by himself, saying nothing, because he has put it on him.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862He sitteth alone, and is silent, For He hath laid <FI>it<Fi> upon him.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752Jod. He shall sit solitary, and hold his peace: because he hath taken it up upon himself.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890He sitteth solitary and keepeth silence, because he hath laid it upon him;
Context
The instruction gets concrete: how to bear the yoke rightly. Verse 29 will deepen the humility with the image of putting one’s mouth in the dust, seeking hope through repentance. Verse 30 will add accepting blows and reproach without retaliation. These postures flow from trust in God’s character, which will be reaffirmed in the next section (vv. 31–33) as the reason such humble endurance is wise.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Psalms 39:9
I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; Because thou didst it.
- Jeremiah 15:17
I sat not in the assembly of them that make merry, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of thy hand; for thou hast filled me with indignation.
- Lamentations 2:10
The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground, they keep silence; They have cast up dust upon their heads; they have girded themselves with sackcloth: The virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.
- Psalms 102:7
I watch, and am become like a sparrow That is alone upon the house-top.
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