Lamentations 3:50

What does Lamentations 3:50 mean?

A plain-English look at Lamentations 3:50 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.

What Lamentations 3:50 means

The tears will not cease until Jehovah looks down and beholds from heaven. This expresses a theology of lament: only God’s attentive gaze can turn mourning into joy. The sufferer waits for divine regard, not merely for human aid. Heaven’s look implies compassion arising from God’s throne, where He rules yet also pities. This teaches us that relief comes when God chooses to visit His people again in mercy, and that faithful lament perseveres until He does.

Parallel translations

WEB

World English Bible · 2000

Till Jehovah look down, and behold from heaven.

KJV

King James Version · 1611

Till the Lord look down, and behold from heaven.

ASV

American Standard Version · 1901

Till Jehovah look down, and behold from heaven.

BBE

Bible in Basic English · 1949

Till the Lord's eye is turned on me, till he sees my trouble from heaven.

YLT

Young's Literal Translation · 1862

Till Jehovah looketh and seeth from the heavens,

DRA

Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752

Ain. Till the Lord regarded and looked down from the heavens.

DBY

Darby Bible · 1890

till Jehovah look down and behold from the heavens.

Context

Here the prayer sets its aim: the end of tears is God’s renewed attention. Verse 51 will show how the devastation he sees affects his soul, keeping the connection between observation, emotion, and prayer. Verses 52–54 will then recount personal persecution and near death, shifting from corporate grief to individual trial.

v.49Mine eye poureth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission,

v.50This passage

v.51Mine eye affecteth my soul, because of all the daughters of my city.

Cross references

Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

  • Daniel 9:16

    O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, let thine anger and thy wrath, I pray thee, be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are round about us.

  • Isaiah 62:6

    I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem; they shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that are Jehovah’s remembrancers, take ye no rest,

  • Isaiah 63:15

    Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory: where are thy zeal and thy mighty acts? the yearning of thy heart and thy compassions are restrained toward me.

  • Lamentations 5:1

    Remember, O Jehovah, what is come upon us: Behold, and see our reproach.

  • Isaiah 64:1

    Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might quake at thy presence,

  • Psalms 102:19

    For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; From heaven did Jehovah behold the earth;

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